EU ministers haggle over €380bn agriculture fund

The battle over how to make agriculture sustainable and environmentally friendly stepped up a gear in Brussels as ministers haggled over how to distribute a proposed €380bn over six years.

Simon Coveney, the agriculture minister, wants to limit the cut in funds to big farmers to 15%, and to limit the increase in money for the smaller, less productive farmers to between 25% and 30% under the Common Agriculture Programme.

He was among a group of ministers representing nine countries arguing for the new proposals on greening the CAP to be made much more flexible to take into account the different climates and farming models around the EU.