EU agriculture facing disaster

EUROPEAN agriculture is on the brink of a disaster, the umbrella bodies for the region’s co-ops and farmers have warned.

COPA and COGECA insisted at a meeting in Brussels that the EU must hold firm in the world trade talks and not allow the choice for sustainable farming in Europe to be sacrificed just to please a few big world traders.

In a joint statement, they said they knew that any deal in the World Trade Organisation would mean sacrifices for European agriculture. But even they were shocked by the European Commission’s assessment of the deal being discussed.