The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘Less tension’ between farmers and green lobby
The European Commission brought together the competing views on the future of the CAP, at a ‘have your say’ conference in Brussels.
At the event, Commission officials claimed there was now less tension between farmers and environmentalists and cited a growing economic gap between those who used technology and those who didn’t.
Critics of the CAP will see this as evidence that the policy insulates farmers from market realities to the degree that they do not need to use technology.
The green lobby has actively canvassed for people to push a green agenda on the future of the CAP as part of the consultation process.
The conference also heard claims that the CAP delivered growth, making it an investment rather than a purse subsidy.
Meanwhile, the Great Repeal Bill published at Westminster will roll over all EU agriculture legislation into UK law.
Defra has promised a consultation with farmers and others in the autumn on future policy, with a view to firm ideas emerging in 2018.
In its short-term market forecasts for 2017/18, the European Commission says cereal production will again be below average.
This is down to weather conditions, mainly drought, in key producing countries including Spain.
It says this will affect quantities available for export and further reduce stocks – but it says farmers will not gain because production is high elsewhere in the world.
The impact is not across all crops. Maize is well down, but wheat and barely are steady, while oilseed production is set to grow.
On dairy, it forecasts a modest increase in production, but says this can be absorbed because demand for fats, including butter, is strong.
The European Commission has published details of its proposal to renew the licence for glyphosate.
As expected, it wants to limit this to 10 rather than 15 years.
It claims this is to allow for any new data emerging that would have to be considered before glyphosate could be re-licensed again. In reality this is a compromise to try to buy support.
The proposal will now go to a committee of member state experts and will be voted on in the autumn.
With perfect timing, given that the European Commission has just signed a free trade deal with Japan, its imports of pigmeat are set to surge.
A report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says that by 2019 Japan will again be the world’s biggest importer of pigmeat, overtaking China where domestic production is again on the rise.