The RSPB, together with 13 other organisations, has written to the Prime Minister to urge him to support crucial changes we believe need to be made to the way in which our food is produced.
It is three months since Sir Don Curry's Food and Farming Commission published its findings and recommendations for the future of the British countryside in the wake of the disastrous foot and mouth epidemic.
The commission recommended a shift in farm subsidies from food production to environmental stewardship.
Without long term investment and diversion of subsidies from intensive food production into truly sustainable farming and more choices for consumers, we shall continue to see the impoverishment of small farmers, declines in the rural economy, losses of wildlife and continuing frustration on the part of the public.
Along with my colleagues from organisations as diverse as The Soil Association, The Ramblers and Butterfly Conservation, we believe the Treasury must find ways of making new money available to fund the commission's recommendations.
Andy Bunten,
Regional Director,
RSPB North of England Region,
Newcastle.
Updated: 10:43 Tuesday, May 21, 2002
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