Tag: events

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First results from Brno Informal Agricultural Council

The Czech Minister for Agriculture has issued a press release summarising the discussion at the informal agricultural council in Brno today. The subject was the future shape of a simplified system of direct payments and a more even distribution that would result in a fairer competitive environment on the single market. Even allowing for translation issues and the usual blandness of official press releases, this is a particularly opaque example of the genre.

According to the release, the Ministers brought agreement on the issue of the importance of direct payments as well as creation of a new Common Agricultural Policy after 2013. The Ministers further committed to address the issue of unequal levels of payments to EU Member States. The reference to a new Common Agricultural Policy after 2013 creates interesting possibilities if indeed this is what is meant.… Read the rest

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McDonald’s, Lidl and big biotech at the Copa-Cogeca annual congress

Time is running out to book your place at the annual Congress of European Farmers, organised by COPA-COGECA, the umbrella organization that attempts to represent European farm unions in Brussels. The two-day meet-up, entitled “Visions for the future of agricultural policy in Europe” takes place on 30 September and 1 October. Having perused the programme, Berlaymole is barely able to contain his excitement. … Read the rest

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McDonald's, Lidl and big biotech at the Copa-Cogeca annual congress

The congress will be held at the Espace Léopold complex, seat of the European Parliament in Brussels, which is vacant because the European Parliament will be in Strasbourg that week. It is unclear whether the Parliament has given the space for free, or rented it out on commercial terms. Financial support has been provided by the European Commission, one of COPA-COGECA’s biggest funders, and by EuropaBio, a pro-GMO trade association.

It should be no surprise that the delegates will be addressed by Michel Barnier, France’s farms minister, who is chief ringleader of those who would turn the clock back to the productionist, protectionist, state-planning approach of the common agricultural policy of the 60s, 70s and 80s. FAO chief Jacques Diouf has chosen to stay away and is sending his assistant Hervé Lejeune in his place. Kristen Silverberg, the US Ambassador to the EU, is still considering whether she’ll accept an invitiation to provide a perspective from America.… Read the rest

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Agriculture Ministers hold first discussions on Health Check

Agriculture Ministers had their first discussion of the Commission’s Health Check proposals at the first Council meeting under the Slovenian Presidency yesterday. It appears that the two issues causing the most fuss are the Commission’s suggestions to introduce a progressive reduction in single farm payments to larger farms (inaccurately referred to as capping) and to increase the rate of compulsory modulation (which again would only affect larger farms), in both cases with the additional funds going to Pillar 2 rural development measures. At the same time, Ministers were clearly taken by the emphasis on risk management and safety nets in the Commission Communication and called for more specific proposals in this area.… Read the rest

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Why farm subsidies are bad for young farmers

Today, in Brussels, the Commission is hosting a special day for European young farmers. The day is being billed as part of the consultation in the run-up to the CAP health check, after which this blog is named. What is unlikely to be discussed at the meeting are the very real reasons why the current system of farm subsidies are overwhelmingly bad for young farmers and new farmers seeking to make a start in agriculture in the European Union.… Read the rest