Many thanks to all of you that contributed to last week's debate about balancing agricultural production with conservation.  Whether you posted a comment, dropped me an email or simply read it - thank you!  Particular thanks to our guest contributors - Matthew Naylor, Allan Buckwell, Caroline Drummond and Johann Tasker.

I think that we reached a good deal of consensus about ambition and intent.  As Caroline concluded "the future is not doing more of the same, it is about increasing sustainability at all levels". But perhaps we did not do enought to identify solutions.  Allan was right when he said "until and unless there is public acceptance of the scale and seriousness of the market failures in land management which mean that farmers are properly remunerated for producing the non-food ecosystem services which only they can provide, then we will continue to wring our hands about the deterioration of environmental capital."  Yet, this is not to blame farmers.  It is for the policy makers to provide the right signals to which the farming community will respond.

I shall reflect further on the debate with the RSPB team.  This is a crucial year with CAP reform on the horizon and Defra itself is looking at this issue.  Defra has established a Green Food Project and is obliged to report its findings in June 2012.  The group is chaired by the Farming Minister, Jim Paice, and I am one of the participants alongside representatives from organisations such as NFU, CLA and WWF.  Through sector, product and site case studies it will explore options for reconciling the twin objectives of increasing production and enhancing the natural environment.  I shall return to this subject in due course.

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