Suggests that government schemes and initiatives such as "Action Plan for Farming" are only rehashes of previous ideas and developments. Conveys the view that the strong pound and staying out of the euro is hitting farmers the hardest and that Britain should either join the euro, which would give British farmers the same deal as the rest of Europe, or that British farmers should be offered monetary compensation instead. However the author is sceptical of a suitable EU regime based on environmental enhancement even though it is suggested that it would be easy to shift farm support from growing food to conservation. Nicholas Woolley, a Chartered Surveyor and former president of RICS Rural Practice Division, has devised a techique to evaluate sustainability in an objective way. Called Comprehensive Project Evaluation (CPE) and developed by RICS, Environmental Agency and English Nature, it works by using a scale to 'score' farmers and it is valid across different agriculture types. It could form a basis for a reformed CAP with conservation payouts. The article ends with little expectation for new developments from the Rural White Paper. THIS ITEM HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN FROM CIRCULATION AND SHOULD NOT BE PHOTOCOPIED OR READ OUT WITHOUT CONSULTATION WITH THE PRESS OFFICE. FILED AS ABS63358.