Lords to investigate innovation in agriculture

The aim of the inquiry is to identify how innovation in EU agriculture can be best encouraged and supported at a time when factors like population increase and climate change have presented new challenges for agriculture in the UK, Europe and globally.

Lord Carter of Coles, chairman of the House of Lords EU Sub-Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Farming, said his inquiry would look at innovation from perspective of the high-tech, such as biotechnology and IT, to the most simple business processes.

Against this backdrop the committee will be considering:

• How far agriculture is innovating today;
• What the obstacles to innovation are;
• What challenges are likely to drive innovation in the future;
• The key players and structures needed to support innovation in EU agriculture;
• How the CAP and EU Research Programme can help to resolve the issues identified.

Lord Carter said: “Innovation can refer to specific examples of new technologies, such as biotechnology, information technology and new machinery; much simpler business processes, such as the decision to plant a new crop, alteration to a label or a change in the terms used to market a product; and more generic processes by which ideas are conceived, developed and deployed throughout the agricultural sector.  Against this background, we have a number of issues that we want to explore with the help of contributions from interested parties.”

The committee is inviting contributions from across the agricultural, food production, retail, environmental and research sectors.

The closing date for written evidence is September 24.  The Committee will begin to take oral evidence from witnesses in the autumn with a view to reporting before next summer. 

To find out more, see the committee’s web page:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/eu-environment-and-agriculture-sub-committee-d/

• See Lord Carter of Coles talking about the inquiry on Parliament’s YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/user/UKparliament.

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