Those agreeing with the argument that we should know how much of our money is going into farm subsidies should visit the website Farmsubsidy.org and read the piece here.
This campaign is linked to another cross European initiative EU Transparency.org which is a non-profit organisation aiming "to shed light on how European Union institutions and policies are working." They have written to the European Agriculture Commissioner - excerpt below....
"In line with the objectives of the European Transparency Initiative, we call on the Council and Commission to agree new regulations to require the publication of information on beneficiaries of CAP funds in a way that improves public oversight of public expenditure and does a better job at explaining who was paid what, and why. As well as contributing to greater public accountability and legitimacy, budget transparency is a powerful safeguard against waste, fraud and abuse of EU funds."
It's important to bear in mind that it's not just traditional big landowning farmers that are beneficiaries of these subsidies. Increasingly the conservation sector has realised that it too can get a share of the cake by going in for more and more farm style management with plenty of livestock. The temptation is there to get grants from anywhere they can bringing the inevitable question - is this option being taken for the good of the land or to help secure our jobs and pay the mortgage on our smart headquarters?
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