Margaret Beckett has urged farmers to support plans for a radical overhaul of Europe's Common Agricultural Policy.

The rural affairs secretary told a farmers' conference in Oxford on Friday they should be paid to look after the countryside rather than produce food.

Reflecting on what was a disastrous year for the agriculture, Beckett used her first keynote speech of the year to call for farmers to "expect the unexpected" in 2002.

"Who a year ago would have predicted a massive outbreak of foot and mouth disease - let alone one with such unique and unprecedented features. Its impact on the wider rural economy along with the effect of flooding on arable farming all contributed to depressed farm incomes," she said.

This year would be one of consultation the minister said and urged people with an interest in farming, food and the rural economy to "join the debate about the direction in which we should go".

The new role for farmers would be as much about being custodians of the countryside as providers of food, Beckett said.

"Agriculture remains uniquely placed to contribute towards the protection and enhancement of the rural environment. It has a pivotal role at the base of the food supply chain. And of course, farming both contributes to - and benefits from - a thriving rural economy. But the background against which we express our hopes for the future and try to agree how to realise those hopes is itself a background of massive change."

She accepted that reforming Europe's now-outdated agriculture policy would raise many problems but had to be done.

"Securing agreement for CAP reform will not be easy, but many other European countries are grappling with the same questions. The UK is working hard to develop strategic alliances with other member states, and there is increasing recognition that a different approach may be needed to meet the new challenges we face, not least from the Doha round. Import protection, export subsidies, and trade-distorting domestic subsidies must all be substantially reduced on the basis of the criteria for that round," Beckett told the conference.

Meeting society's demand to deal with the impact of farming was one problem that had to be resolved and Beckett suggested the widening of the current scheme of agri-environment payments to cover the costs."It is clear we need to find better ways to handle these issues as well as to find new ways to address the negative effects, such as diffuse pollution, that can be generated as a by-product of agricultural activity."

She also gave a clear indication that if the French government does not lift its ban on British beef she would demand action from the EU commission.

Beckett warned there would be no short-term solutions to problems that had existed in agriculture for several decades.

"None of the routes I have referred to provide a magic wand. Farmers who have won success through any of these routes have done so as a result of enormous commitment and effort - and through a gritty determination to make their business work. And it's that businesslike determination to succeed that is crucial," Beckett said.

"I do not want to suggest that any of this is easy. But I do want to suggest that there is a new vitality in British farming today which has been drowned out - understandably - by the crises of recent months and years. Government has a responsibility to help the industry - but as a challenging partner in a vital business, not as a provider of endless subsidy."

The minister said that change in farming practice "is inevitable" at both local and European level.

"The sooner we in Europe accept that fact and begin serious work to manage that change, the sooner we can develop a new framework of stability for agriculture. Continued uncertainty destroying the stability farmers, like others, need to plan their businesses is in itself corrosive," she said.