CAP REFORM AND FARM ANIMAL WELFARE

That this House believes that reform of the Common Agricultural Policy should encourage a move away from intensive farming to more humane ways of rearing farm animals; urges that Article 39 of the Treaty of Rome be amended to include the need to ensure high standards of health and welfare for farm animals among the objectives of the CAP; believes that the reformed CAP should encourage mixed farming which will lead to more animals being kept outdoors or, because straw is available from the crops, in good straw-based indoor housing; calls for a new CAP Pigs and Poultry Extensification Scheme to be introduced to assist farmers who wish to change from intensive to extensive husbandry; believes that the CAP dairy regime must be reformed to discourage the pursuit of ever higher yields per cow and to encourage smaller producers with high welfare standards; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to press the United Kingdom's EU partners to accept the need for high standards of farm animal welfare to be included among the principal objectives of the CAP.