A REPORT by a Dutch MEP for the European Parliament's agricultural committee effectively says the EU must make up its mind on whether or not it wants to see innovation in agriculture.

In the report, MEP Jan Huitema says agriculture is at a crossroads and its choices are whether to go into the future, or live in the past.

The report is about farm management practices and it is part of a wider review of how science and innovation can help deliver much needed growth for the European economy, particularly in the ailing euro-zone.

The final report is not due until the new year, but Huitema discussed some of his ideas with the committee this week. The report questioned whether there is a need for fresh legislation to encourage new farm management techniques, possibly through the CAP, or the lifting of legislation that discourages innovation.

The techniques he refers to as examples range from more precision farming, possibly with the use of drones, to more far out examples, such as using farmed insects as a source of protein for livestock feeds - an idea that would be hard to sell to the general public, but which confirms that radical thinking is high on his agenda.

Where the report goes, time will tell, but with a Masters degree in livestock production science and practical farming experience, Huitema is certainly well-equipped for his role as rapporteur or adviser to the committee on this issue.

He is enthusiastic about more use being made of shared data between farmers, of more use of GPS and technologies linked to it, and about more science being devoted to processing livestock manures to reduce reliance on bought in fertilisers.

These are all ideas that make sense and which have the potential to make farming more productive. He is correct in saying that agriculture cannot sit still scientifically.

But he is up against those that believe the way forward is to appeal to a minority rich enough to pay a premium for food produced under farming systems of the past which ignore the need for increased productivity.

This is a mindset that exists amongst some European Commission officials, but to be fair not with commissioner, Phil Hogan, or his senior advisers.

However, securing a commitment from his fellow MEPs to allow science to drive agriculture forward will not be easy. That said, 21st century farming in Europe, while the rest of the world embraces technology, is not a comfortable place for the industry.

In making his comments, Mr Huitema seemed to ignore the large elephant sitting in the corner of the room. That is the whole issue of genetically modified crops and to a lesser degree cloned or genetically modified livestock.

This may not be part of his review of farm management practices, but it is difficult to talk about future technology while ignoring one of the biggest technologies used elsewhere.

It is impossible to envisage the European Commission coming up with a coherent policy on innovation and future farming methods without addressing the GM issue.

However, this is an area of science which has been kicked into touch, by allowing member states to decide whether or not to embrace it.

Illogical as it may be, past experience suggests this is such a sensitive issue that the commission will ultimately find a way to ignore that very large elephant in the room.

If it is to make sure agriculture goes into the future envisaged in the thinking of Mr Huitema's report, the European Commission needs to commit itself to a single policy, and the best would be the concept of sustainable intensification.

This would be a good way to nail its colours to the mast and to counter the views of green and other lobby groups that want to resist almost all technology in agriculture, without any sound scientific reason for their opposition.

The commission needs to confirm that agriculture needs to produce more food from the same area of land, to feed a growing world and European population, and perhaps more importantly to keep European farmers competitive.

That is better for the environment that trying to bring more land into production. To deliver on this concept the commission, national ministers and MEPs should be grabbing the ideas in this report with both hands as a way to commit to a policy that could end years of confusion about the way ahead for European agriculture.