Huge support for farmers

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which represents the world’s developed economies, has published its latest figures on the global level of support going to agriculture.

It says from 2015 to 2017, developed countries provided $620 billion (£469bn) a year to support agriculture.

Despite policy changes in some countries, more than 65% was deemed trade distorting, in that the form it came in influenced production decisions.

Of this support, more than 80% went directly to farmers, while in some countries a share went to research and other agricultural organisations.

The report again shows prosperous Iceland, Noway and Switzerland were the most generous with subsidies.

The EU is top of the list for subsidies of the main trading blocs, slightly above the OECD average and well ahead of the US.

The OECD says progress towards removing trade distortion through elements such as coupled support payments has been patchy, with policies ill-defined.

As the Westminster government continues debating future support policies for the UK, the report confirms this is the norm in all developed economies other than Australia and New Zealand. COPA, which represents European farm unions in Brussels, has agreed UK farm unions should remain full members of the organisation for at least the duration of the UK transition period after the formal Brexit date.

This will give unions a full role in all discussions and enable them to help shape the detail of trade arrangements and continuing access to the EU 27 after Brexit.

Beyond the transition, continued involvement would demand a change of COPA rules, since full membership is restricted to EU member states.

The continuation of UK membership will also protect COPA’s income for the foreseeable future, since the UK unions are significant contributors. There has been widespread support for the Chinese decision to lift its ban on the import of beef from the UK.

This is a further sign the BSE era is over for the UK and the rest of the EU as more countries normalise trading relationships.

Ireland was the first EU member to secure access to the Chinese market, and similar arrangements are expected to be confirmed for France, Italy and the Netherlands in the coming weeks.

China is a huge market for beef due to a rapidly growing middle-class sector.

It imported 700,000 tonnes of beef in 2017, mainly from Uruguay, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina.

But the agreement on access for the UK is only the start of negotiations on trade protocols, which could take years rather than months.

Despite massive government support and pressure, it took Ireland two years to get these in place.

Developed countries provided £469bn a year to support agriculture