The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Restrictions on Brazil poultry
The European Commission has implemented its ban on poultry imports from some of Brazil’s biggest processing businesses. It will affect plants that account for a third of poultry exports from Brazil to the EU and is on grounds of protecting human health.
Concerns are about salmonella controls, made worse by allegations that test results were falsified, which has allowed the Commission to confirm it has a scientific basis for its action.
Brazilian authorities have, however, accused the EU of seeking to protect European processors from competition and is threatening to challenge the decision through the World Trade Organisation.
Observers say that is unlikely because it would open practices in Brazil to public scrutiny.
The battle over future funding of the CAP is hotting up.
It has been triggered by Brexit and the post-2020 loss of the UK contribution to the EU budget.
The Commission has proposed a cut of around 5% to the CAP budget and a small increase in the amount countries pay into the EU, which is small in percentage terms but it could cost Germany alone more than 10 billion euro a year.
Predictably, French farm unions are leading the charge for countries to pay in more to maintain CAP funding.
As expected there is a split between net beneficiaries and net contributors.
Meanwhile, an Irish agricultural economist, Professor Alan Matthews, has questioned whether the 60,000 euro limit on direct payments will shift the forecast four billion euro to small and medium-sized farms.
Member states can already cap payments but only Hungary has done so.
The percentage of what consumers pay for food that reaches farmers is always controversial.
In the EU the figure has been falling steadily from a third in the mid-1990s to below 20% and in the United States the trend is even more marked.
According to the US National Farmers’ Union, which represents mainly family farms, the figure there has hit an all-time low at less than 15%, the lowest since records began in 1993.
The drop is greatest for beef, with the percentage of the consumer spend reaching farmers down from 44% in 2014 to 22%. The figure for dairy is 50% to 30%.
As well as margin pressure, this reflects the fact that farm prices are volatile compared to more static retail prices, meaning big swings from season to season.
Globally, the farmers’ share is falling as consumers spend less of their disposable income on food.
Ireland has responded to the pressure for workers for the farming and food industries by starting a trial of work permits for people from outside the EU and European Economic Area.
As employment levels have risen across Europe, there is less migratory labour available.
The work permits, initially limited in numbers, will give the industry access to a new pool of skilled and semi-skilled staff.
Like the UK, Ireland has become increasingly dependent on foreign national workers for its farming and food sectors.