Almost 75% of EU farmers run small farms with a turnover of less than £5,000 per year^[1]. Without agricultural subsidies, many of these farms would cease to be profitable, and the rural communities they support would struggle to survive. Most farms are small businesses, with time consuming and labour intensive operations, which return very small profits. Taking away EU agricultural subsidies, which are reliable source of finance, could prove to be the final nail in the coffin for many farms, especially those in remote areas.

1. ^ www.civitas.org.uk

The current distribution of CAP funds is unfair and unbalanced. Big farms get the bulk of the money, with the smaller farmers who are probably more in need of it getting comparatively little. For example 74% of CAP funds go to just 20% of European farmers while 70% of farmers share only 8% of the fund between them^[1]

1. ^ Q&A: Common Agricultural Policy, BBC News, 20 November 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4407792.stm

High-density animal production operations can increase livestock disease incidence, the emergence of new, often antibiotic-resistant diseases, and air, groundwater and surface water pollution associated with animal wastes. Current livestock operations are vulnerable to catastrophic loss of animals to disease. For instance, in 1997, an influenza A virus (H5N1) appeared and spread among Hong Kong chicken-production facilities, killing six humans and leading to the destruction of more than 1.2 million birds. In Britain, foot and mouth outbreaks led to the destruction of 440,000 animals in 1967 and 1.2 million in 2001. Bovine spongiform encephalitis ('mad cow disease') led to the slaughter of 11 million animals in 1996. To help prevent disease associated with high-density facilities, livestock are often fed subtherapeutic doses of the same antibiotics used in human medicines. These prophylactic treatments cause agriculture to use, in total, a larger proportion of global antibiotic production than human medicine^[1]

1. ^ Gorback, S. L. Antimicrobial use in animal feed—time to stop. New Engl. J. Med. 345, 1202–1203 (2001)

The handling and disposal of animal wastes are significant problems of high-density animal confinement facilities. Manure lagoons can release high levels of hydrogen sulphide and other toxic gases, volatilize ammonium that greatly increases regional nitrogen deposition, and contaminate surface and ground waters with nutrients, toxins and pathogens.

Intensive agriculture harms the environment. It uses chemical fertilisers, which drain into waterways, upsetting the ecological balance. It uses heavy machinery, which creates pollution. Basically its environmental impact is much more severe than that of non-intensive methods. It is unacceptable for the EU to continue to support something with such a detrimental effect on the environment, especially as the EU has committed to environmental protection measures in other areas.

The EU recognises the environmental benefits of small farms. But often these farms cannot operate because they are undercut by bigger, less environmentally friendly, producers. These small producers could be made a lot more competitive if subsidies were channelled away from the larger farms and focused on smaller producers. This would be an effective way of promoting something environmentally friendly, by helping the people willing to use sustainable methods.

Big businesses or small farmers- who needs the money more? The EU should care about more than profitability; it should be acting to improve the lives of its people. One way it can effectively do this is to ensure that small, often family run, farms are not forced out of business by bigger competitors.