Farmers unfairly maligned

CHEATS and robbers and incompetents in Brussels and a few member states have blackened the reputation of farmers throughout the EU.

The European Court of Auditors has helped them, by tarring all with the same brush.

And the consequences could be severe for farmers. Already, there has been some anti-farmer sentiment across Europe, after the Court announced that more than €3bn of “irregular” Common Agricultural Policy payments went missing since 1971.