Fruitless debate

Ayear of debate on CAP reform will limp to an end this week when EU farm ministers meet for the December farm council.

Already debate on the CAP has been eclipsed by the meeting concentrating on fisheries issues, including quotas for next year.

The Cypriot presidency will present a summing up of what has been achieved over the past six months. The document runs to 23 pages but agreement is no closer than a year ago.

The latest sticking point is the move towards a flatrate EU-wide per-hectare Single Farm Payment.

This incomplete dossier will be passed to the incoming Irish presidency, which has until June to secure agreement.

This will be ‘deal or no deal’time — after June, time to reach agreement under the current farm commissioner will have run out.

Final figures in the EU cereal harvest for this year confirm that across Europe the drop in yields, because of weather problems, was less than expected.

The final harvest came in at 284.8 million tonnes — less than 1% below the figure for last year.

For next year, based on planting intentions, the forecast is that the harvest will rise to around 286m tonnes. This is based on a modest increase in acreage, with yields remaining similar.

These figures are from farm lobby body CopaCogeca, but figures from grain trade organisation Coceral are more modest, claiming this year’s harvest was 272m tonnes, because of drought hitting yields in eastern Europe.

Oilseed production is also set to rise, with a 7.6 % increase forecast, thanks to a big increase in rapeseed production, again reflecting an increase in acreage and similar yields.

l Greening remains one of the divisive issues in CAP reform, but farm ministers seem to be moving towards a compromise position on ‘equivalence’.

This would mean agrienvironment schemes funded through rural development would count towards the 30% greening of Single Farm Payments.

There is some way to go in deciding how this would work, but growing political support for the idea.

This is now supported by a majority of member states, including France and Germany.

Farm Commissioner Dacian Ciolos is still insisting greening must be about changing farm practices rather than environmental goals alone.

However, he is unlikely to be able to maintain this position with member states rallying around the alternative, which would reduce the red tape associated with greening — the main objection from the farming lobby.