By Ann Kristine Johansson, Swedish MP for the Social Democrats and Chairperson of the Nordic Council Environment Committee

The EU Agricultural Policy will be revised from 2013 and the negotiations are well under way in Brussels. As representatives for the Environment and Business Committees in the Nordic Council, we believe that agricultural subsidies should, to a much greater extent, benefit the whole of society and promote sustainable production, characterised by greater diversity.

As Nordic politicians, we are keenly aware of the Nordic countries responsibility locally, regionally and globally. At the same time, we believe that it is possible to reform the agricultural policy in a way that ensures the food supply and minimises the impact on the environment. This, in short, is the essence of the common Nordic proposal that we have submitted to the EU Commission - the first of its kind ever in the agricultural sector.

We need an agricultural policy that promotes regional development and takes climate challenges into account. And we need more joint research and innovation which will promote productivity in sustainable agriculture.

The classic agricultural subsidies promote large-scale production spread over a few, often non-sustainable, farms. This impoverishes the soil, places a burden on the environment and reduces production capacity. We believe that it is important to subsidise smaller farms, and also to ensure the diversity in production we know from New Nordic Food, and ensure continuous food production in all parts of the region.

There should be much more co-operation on research and innovation across national boundaries as we have already seen here in the Nordic countries. And, in particular, more money should be spent on environment and climate initiatives as an integral part of the subsidy scheme. We would also like to see more funding to switch production to organic farming.

Finally, we believe that export support for agricultural export subsidies should be phased out and that agricultural subsidies must be adapted to development aid policy. In brief, we call for a sustainable food supply with focus on local development and attention to the Nordic Region and Europe's global responsibilities.

The EU Agricultural Policy is important for us all, whether we are EU member or not, and this statement is supported by politicians from all the Nordic countries from both the Nordic Council's Environment Committee and the Business and Industry Committee.

As such, this is the first combined Nordic agricultural policy proposal addressed to the EU and we will continue to work nationally and regionally to promote a common Nordic input to the Commission to ensure broader agricultural subsidies that show more solidarity.