Separating fact from fiction

ON top of the recession, the rain, and the uncertainty about prices for milk and beef, pigs, sheep and grain, talk about cutting the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which supports farming is never far away.

It’s enough to bring on depression, but the European Commission, of all people, has come to the rescue, by sorting the CAP facts from the fiction, and equipping farmers with the information to make a spirited defence of the €44 billion per year policy.

Next time someone holds you personally responsible for 40% of the EU’s budget being spent on farmers, tell them it’s the only area where European spending replaces national spending, and that only 0.43% of the EU’s GDP is spent on farmers.