EUC Report: Agriculture

My Lords, I conclude by thanking all noble Lords for their contributions. We have been debating a very important issue this evening and all the contributions have served to underline that fact. I noticed a number of themes emerging from noble Lords’ remarks. The first is the issue of people: the fact that the population of the world is going to rise and requires feeding imposes a moral, political and economic responsibility on everybody who can help in this. That is one of the noblest things we could focus on. The noble Lord, Lord Curry, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Parminter and Lady Byford, mentioned how we can get people to engage in agriculture, how we can motivate them, educate them and up-skill them. These are very important factors; those things together drive that along. The second theme is the issue of science: the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, about the renewal of science, and the fact that renewal of interest in agriculture generally is a wave to ride, something to pick up on and to drive forward. On the subject of science, the noble Earl, Lord Caithness—in his usual to-the-point way—drew our attention to GMOs. This is not to be ducked; it is an issue to be debated and it is an issue the European Union needs to get clear on. We need to address the issue of GMOs if we are to close that gap between productivity in our continent and in other parts of the world. The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, drew our attention to the challenges we face on a global scale, as did the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria: the challenges of moral responsibility, of feeding Africa and involving Europe beyond its boundaries by actually going out and serving and helping solve the problems of the world. The noble Lord, Lord Plumb, with his great experience, raised the most pressing question of all: how is it going to be made to happen? How will it happen? How will we influence the CAP and how will it go forward? The noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, in her questions about research and waste, asked for specifics about how we are going to address those issues, which are really pressing. We need to maintain the pressure—both on our Government and through the Governments of the European Union—to deal with those challenges and not to duck the issues that we have to deal with out there. That is very important. Looking beyond that, we have the sense of urgency referred to by a number of noble Lords. There is a time, and it is now, and we have to make the voice heard, most specifically around the CAP. We are not going to get another chance for another seven years if we do not do it now. It needs to be pressed on extremely hard to get this done—a point made, again, by many noble Lords. It is pretty straightforward; the policy is pretty simple, but it is the Government’s responsibility as well as ours to come up with the strategy in order to deliver those aims. In thanking noble Lords, I would also like to echo the welcome extended to the noble Lord, Lord Curry of Kirkharle. I just read a biography of Capability Brown, so it did not come as a surprise about that. I would really like to thank him for his erudite remarks; they were very insightful and clearly, like other Members, I look forward to hearing more of his views in the Chamber as we go forward. I would also like to thank the noble Lord, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, for setting out the views of the Government. Some may refer to the noble Lord as a poacher turned gamekeeper, but I think I am not alone in hoping that his role in Government will actually be a game changer for us here—to get out there and do this and drive towards the innovation in agriculture that we have discussed. Finally, I am going to seek your Lordships’ indulgence to quote from Ecclesiastes 1:19 in the King James Bible: "““The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun””." It may well be that all that the changes we want to see in agriculture have all been done on a small scale. We will find these examples in one area or another in different parts of the world and things like that. However, to bring these changes together, to build on them with intellectual and financial support and apply them across the EU agriculture generally—and then out into the world—that would be a new thing under the sun, under the rain, and under the changing climate that we are going to have to live under. Motion agreed.