Spelman cheers NFUS as she backs productive farming A CLAIM that Scottish agriculture could provide a way forward in achieving the twin aims of food production and protecting the environment was made yesterday by UK Agricultural Secretary Caroline Spelman. On a visit to NFU Scotland president Nigel Miller's farm at Stow in the Borders yesterday, Spelman expressed deep concerns over the current proposals put forward by EU agricultural commissioner Dacian Ciolos to "green" the Common Agricultural Policy. While she agreed with the commissioner that the taxpayer funding the CAP wanted to see benefits in the countryside apart from food production, she firmly believed the current proposals would unnecessarily stifle productive agriculture. She believed that she had political support across a number of member states for more acceptable changes to be made on this aspect of policy. This was sweet music to the ears of the union hierarchy lined up for the ministerial visit, with Miller saying afterwards that he was pleased to learn there might be some flexibility in the proposal. With Scotland already having a number of environmental programmes he did not want to see these being added to by Europe. He added that the union had stressed another number of points they wanted to see in the CAP reform talks. These included support being limited to active farmers and not as at present to those who just held entitlements. With a large area of land not currently given support, he worried that the "small pot of cash" coming to Scotland would be severely diluted if the area-based payments included areas of abandoned land. Throughout her short visit, the minister stressed time and again that she understood farming north of the Border, saying that some of her relations came from Scotland and that she still has relatives farming in Orkney. She also deflected any suggestion that she was at odds with the Scottish Government rural affairs minister Richard Lochhead, whom she was meeting later in the day. On one of the main points put to her by the union - that of the need to ensure a continuation of support in the Less Favoured Areas of Scotland - she said this was not uniquely a Scottish issue and she was aware of the importance of these areas especially for the livestock sector. She ducked a question on whether agriculture could survive on a CAP with reduced funding. This would not be her decision, she claimed, but warned that, without exception, the finance ministers of the EU member states would be looking at the amount of cash going into the farming sector. Throughout her visit she was accompanied by the Scottish Secretary of State, Michael Moore, in whose constituency Miller farms. He echoed her aims to get a fair deal for farmers across the UK in the forthcoming CAP reform talks. Both Miller and Spelman refrained from commenting on the current political debate on an independence referendum, with the union boss saying the organisation had no position on it. He admitted this might change if the politicians made a closer definition of what independence might entail. But, possibly to his relief, Spelman showed no appetite to enter into the referendum debate.