Issue link: https://htpgraphics.uberflip.com/i/464860
green CAP would mean for farmers in England. Under the rules, 30% of the new basic payment from 2015 would be dependent on complying with three basic environmental measures. Land certified as organic would automatically qualify for the green payment. The details of the new environment measures received a mixed response from farmers, with some saying the changes they would have to make in order to comply were not too onerous, while others were critical of what they saw as an increase in bureaucracy. One lingering concern was whether the IT system that would be used by farmers to submit their compliance data would be up to the challenge ahead. 9 AGRICULTURE EDITION REVIEW OF THE YEAR | At a time when manufacturers and retailers are under increasing pressure to reduce packaging waste, it appears as if there is a growing appetite for more information on food to be clearly displayed on packaging. It appears everyone has a view on what information consumers want or need to know: nutritional value, salt and sugar content, country of origin of the product itself or the ingredients, best- before and sell-by dates, accreditation schemes – the list seems endless. Another view is that all of the above is superfluous. The only detail that really matters to consumers is the cost. But it is an issue that many MPs feel needs highlighting and debating. Many have tabled Early Day Motions to voice their particular area of concern. One of the lasting legacies of the horsemeat scandal that shook the European food industry in January 2013 was the complexity and lack of transparency of the food sector's supply chains. The whole episode left a bad taste in the mouth, and it was widely agreed that it was necessary to restore consumers' trust in food producers and retailers. This meant accountability and transparency, not only in the origin of ingredients but also in the nutritional contents of food. When it comes to nutritional information, there are two main ideas on the table relating to front-of-pack (FOP) labelling. One is the 'traffic light' system, which uses a colour-coding approach to highlight whether a product is high, medium or low in salt or fat. The alternative system uses guideline daily amounts (GDAs), where the levels of several nutritional elements are compared with the guideline amounts for daily consumption. The Food Standards Agency and several large supermarkets favoured the traffic light system; however, other supermarkets made it clear that they would not accept this system voluntarily. There was a similar picture in the EU. While the European Commission favoured a GDA approach to labelling, influential lobby groups called for a traffic light system. EU Food Labelling Food labelling The European Commission favours the GDA approach to nutritional information