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Search forGovernment fails to save the acre from EU oblivion
Wednesday, August 27, 2008, 11:00
Sadly, from January 2010, our ancient measurement will be consigned to history, no longer to be used when land is registered.
Europeans tend to look over the Channel with puzzlement at our imperial measurements and are generally completely unable to fathom exactly what they mean. The pound, the pint, the mile, the hand and the acre may not be totally logical, but they are part of what makes us special. They represent the unique history of our island story, but unfortunately they fall foul of the EU drive for harmonisation and uniformity.
After repeated attempts to rid us of our other imperial measurements, European bureaucrats finally got one over on us by managing to kill the acre when no-one was looking. Hidden deep down in page 30 of the minutes of the last EU Agriculture Ministers' meeting was the sentence that killed it. Ministers approved it with little debate and no protest from the British Government.
The humble acre is one of Britain's most ancient units, measuring 4,840 square yards, and has had an illustrious history. The word itself represents this history, coming from the Old Saxon word of aecer, meaning open field, and the Latin word "ager." This Latin word is also the root for "agriculture". Its exact size was first set out under a law passed in the reign of Edward 1 in the early 14th century.
I can't help feeling that to throw away a word and a unit of measurement with such a tradition, and to replace it with the "hectare", measuring 2.471 acres and hated by most farmers I know, is a sad betrayal of our entire agricultural tradition.
I accept that in reality, it probably won't change everyday life for Westcountry farmers too much. The acre has not formally been used for several years. Hectares are currently used in tandem with acres for most documentation and so this ruling will make little practical difference to most farm sales.
In what now appears a cunning plan by the EU to lay the foundation to kill the acre, all Single Farm Payment claims are already made in hectares, and have been for some time.
However, psychologically it is a hammer blow to the British countryside, reminding us once and for all that no-one can avoid the arbitrary rules of the European Union. The humble acre may have given us the very template for the mishmash of fields which make up the British countryside, it may be well-loved, easy to visualise for our farmers and have existed since the 14th century, yet all this is no match for the pen of European bureaucrats.
Originally, an acre described the amount of land that could be ploughed by a man and an ox in a single day, and while I accept that most Westcountry farmers no longer plough their land in this way, our entire agricultural heritage is based on holdings measured in acres. More importantly, farm sizes sound a lot bigger when they are measured in acres.
In an ideal world a compromise could have been sought. Many other countries seek opt-outs of EU policies which affect or impinge on ancient traditions – and we could have done the same. The EU is constantly attempting to downgrade our traditions and all this achieves in doing is driving people more and more eurosceptic. Our Government always seems to let them get away with it – and it makes me wonder if this is their intention.
It is no secret that our imperial system of measurements drives the Europeans mad. For years, the EU has been trying to persuade our Government to give them up. It dreams of a Britain where people drive (preferably on the right) in kilometres, weigh themselves in kilograms, drink litres rather than pints and measure their land in hectares. For years, it has put the pressure on and generally the Government has been able to resist.
Then came along Directive 80/181/EEC on units of measurements allowed in member states. Once again the pint, mile, yards and hands were threatened and once again the UK was able to negotiate a derogation – or an opt-out – to continue using them. A word of caution here, though – a derogation only puts off the decision for a few years, so expect them to be challenged once more in the future.
However, because of the Common Agricultural Policy, the EU has been able to tie in payments to hectare measurements. Gradually, the acre has become less and less important in practical terms. Granted, we all continue to refer to acres unofficially, but officially virtually everything is done in hectares. As a result, in July's Agricultural Ministers' meeting, the final abolition of the acre was on the agenda.
Now you would have thought for such an important event the UK would have sent a cabinet minister, as most other EU countries did. But no. The UK sent only a junior minister from Defra. Now Jonathan Shaw is an able politician, but surely for a debate on the future of the UK's oldest unit of land measurement, our Government could have taken it more seriously and sent the Secretary of State?
As the meeting developed, it became clear why Hilary Benn didn't bother to attend: there was little debate and no protest whatsoever from the British Government. We could and should have stood up to the EU in this case – and with a bit of a fight, we could have secured a reprieve for the acre.
While I always enjoy attacking the Government, the real villains in this piece are the EU. This kind of pointless interference into every little nook and cranny of our national life is exactly what annoys people about it. We face major agricultural challenges in the next few years, particularly with food prices rising – yet the only response the EU can offer is to ban the acre. They really should get their priorities right.
Unfortunately, though, the deed is done. No-one will have the right to sell or even advertise their land in acres and I wonder just how long it will be before we see more metric martyrs being prosecuted for daring to mention the word "acre" in idle conversation in the pub.
Neil Parish is a Conservative MEP for the South West of England and chairman of the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee
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