Double blow from low prices and high costs hitting European farmers

FARMERS across Europe are being suffocated by rock-bottom farm prices and high production costs, COPA-COGECA has warned.

The umbrella bodies for European farmers and co-ops was responding to the figures recently released by the EU statistical office Eurostat showing another sharp fall in EU farm incomes in 2009 of 12.2%.

COPA president Padraig Walshe said this situation is simply not acceptable. Farmers across the EU have suffered a major crisis in all farm sectors this year.

Farmers’ income is on average less than 50% of average earnings in the EU. The extreme price volatility on the markets poses a big problem for EU farmers. On top of this, they face much greater climatic volatility, whether drought or floods.

Mr Walshe said the market is simply not functioning properly. The European Commission must use all tools at its disposal to manage the market properly.

“Farmers’ position in the food chain must also be reinforced which could be achieved by concentrating supply via cooperatives and producer organisations,” he said.

Copa-Cogeca secretary general Pekka Pesonen said sufficient funds must be made available to finance a strong Common Agricultural Policy in the future.

Without adequate support, EU agricultural production will fall further, causing a sharp rise in food prices for consumers.

This is particularly worrying at a time when the FAO has predicted that world food production needs to be doubled by 2050 to meet growing food demand.

Pekka Pesonen said the CAP budget only represents 0.4% of GDP. Without the CAP, consumers will become dependent on food imports.

“A strong CAP, which provides the right tools and incentives to maintain farmers’ incomes and to ensure they can play their role in addressing future challenges, is vital,” he added.