In a published letter to The Guardian, IEEP’s Alan Buckwell argues it is incorrect to describe payments to farmers who manage land for biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides as “subsidies”.  He adds that a subsidy is generally considered a temporary assistance and often comes with an undertone that is negative and undeserved.

Buckwell elaborates that the UK’s Environment Secretary, Micheal Gove, has adopted this approach of not using the term subsidy, but points out that there is no need for the UK to leave the EU to do so:

“With strong UK leadership, the common agricultural policy has been adapted for over 20 years to enable governments to pay farmers for environmental services, and to do this under their own locally devised schemes. The resources allocated for this purpose have been decided domestically, and we could have done much more of this had we chosen. Let’s hope Mr Gove now delivers on his rhetoric.”

Read the full letter here. 

Contact Harvey Jones for press request.