The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Don’t count your chickens
Farmers face continuing uncertainty as the Brexit endgame is played out at Westminster. If the government falls and a general election is triggered, assurances of farm support continuing for the lifetime of the current parliament, until 2022, could come to an abrupt halt and it would then be the responsibility of a new government to decide its priorities for farm support.
Across the UK all business groups have supported the Withdrawal Agreement assurances on market access, but what is now being played out at Westminster is about politics more than the economy.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has responded to the current confusion by urging member states to step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit.
Brussels has also confirmed that if that happens the UK status on all farm products would be the same as that of any country, with no special treatment based on past EU membership.
Animal welfare
The European Court of Auditors has called for more effective spending on animal welfare and better enforcement measures for countries not meeting regulations.
They say there is a big gap between the goals of EU policy legislation and implementation levels, which vary significantly between member states.
The auditors say significant rural development spending goes to animal welfare projects, with mixed results. These are on top of obligations under cross compliance rules.
The financial watchdogs say there has been good progress on issues such as sow welfare and hen cages, but they cite long-distance transport as an area where legislation is not being enforced. The Commission has long faced criticism that it ignores legislation breaches in many countries, while cracking down on those which are largely in compliance.
Spending on food
The European Commission is continuing to contribute money into programmes to boost the export of EU food. It has confirmed that it will make 191.6 million euro available next year for a range of promotions. This is up from just under 180 million this year.
On top of this, an additional 9 million euro will be made available for trade fairs and other activities, at which the EU will coordinate promotions of European food.
Funding will be available for a range of activities, from simple direct promotions by individual businesses, to coordinated activities to campaigns that highlight Europe’s culinary heritage. The scale of this spending reflects the fact that exports and food are priority areas to grow the eurozone economy. The spending underlines the challenge the UK will face to compete after Brexit, when to match what the EU is doing the UK government would need to be pumping tens of millions into food promotion.