Farm funding reform in EU pairs economic and ‘green’ viability

Direct subsidies to farmers in Europe should be linked to protecting the environment, says the European Commission. A plan it has adopted on reforming the EU’s common agricultural policy (or CAP) has farm unions warning that their economic viability might be threatened.

A farmer interviewed in France, traditionally the biggest beneficiary of EU agricultural funding, told euronews: “What we can guess from what’s come out is leaning toward a plan to restructure agriculture so that farms will disappear.”

The Commission will present its view to EU farm ministers on November 29. Its plan assumes keeping the CAP budget after 2013 at the current level of some 55 billion euros per year.

In Brussels, EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos said: “We can no longer tell European taxpayers that such-and-such a farm got this amount because it had a right to it at a certain time and that right is fixed and we’re not going to touch it. If we’re going to keep paying direct support, it has to have credibility.”

But EU farmers’ union Copa-Cogeca said the Commission’s focus on “greening” the CAP risked undermining EU food production by increasing farmers’ costs. This negative reaction could carry considerable weight in many national agriculture ministries.

Our French farmer said: “We know there are strong pressures in some countries due to the economic crisis forcing cutbacks. But we have to know what it is we want. Ensuring security of the food supply, in quantity and quality, has a cost. That cost is not huge. It’s only 1 percent of Europe’s GDP.”

Brussels also called for a fairer distribution of subsidies between old and new EU member states. A farm in France can get 500 euros a hectare. The EU average is about 250 euros per hectare, but the rate in Latvia is less than 100 euros.

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