In this exclusive video interview – filmed at the Oxford Farming Conference earlier this month – Kendall said attempts to include social and environmental policy in the CAP was “madness.”
Agreeing a CAP deal was absolutely fundamental – not just to farmers but to everyone, he said.
‘An awful press’
But the CAP has always had “an awful press” in Britain, which is often out-dated and ill informed.
Kendall – who is nearing the end of his eight-year spell as president – said he hoped his successor would have the benefit of working with a government that promotes, rather than disadvantages its farmers.
He further hoped the government would design a policy in line with, rather than out of tune with, the massive challenge of global security.
Speaking at the same conference, Simon Coveney, Irish minister for agriculture food and the marine, said until recently, the food industry had not received the attention it deserved from the British government. Watch our video interview with Coveney here.