EU may scrap set-aside to boost grain supply

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has proposed a temporary scrapping of obligatory cereal set-aside for autumn 2007 and spring 2008 sowings, in response to what she predicts will be exceptionally high grain prices due to a global combination of bad harvests and growing demand for grain for bio-ethanol.

The 0% set-aside rate could encourage EU farmers to produce 10 to 17 million extra tonnes of grain in 2008.

In the EU, the current area under obligatory set-aside amounts to 3.8 million hectares. Setting the set-aside rate at zero does not oblige farmers to cultivate their lands. They can continue to set them aside on a voluntary basis and to apply environmental schemes.