At the Congress of European Farmers in Greece on Friday 7 October, calls were made for further action to simplify the common agricultural policy (CAP) and for measures that can more effectively manage the crises affecting a number of agricultural markets
Discussions on the post-2020 CAP, after the EU multi-annual financial framework for 2014-2020 comes to an end, were launched at the congress that was organised by the farmers’ and agri-cooperative organisations in the EU, Copa-Cogeca. The European Commission is due to bring forward a communication on the post-2020 CAP in the summer of 2017, containing political guidelines.
Copa and Cogeca outlined their first thoughts on the matter. Copa President Martin Merrild acknowledged that EU dairy and pork markets are showing signs of recovery due to higher demand from China. Dairy producers are still not really seeing the benefits of the price rise “but we have to remain optimistic that they will in the next six months”. The EU grain market is still in a difficult situation, with EU farmers suffering from cash flow problems, he pointed out.
Merrild said that Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan’s simplification agenda “is welcome news but it does not go far enough”. He argued for tools to be developed at farm level post-2020 to help farmers better manage the risks of increasingly volatile markets (for example, risk management measures, insurance, futures markets and stronger measures to manage the market). He regretted that only 25% of farmers are using precision farming: uptake must be increased, he said. The CAP has to be changed to make farmers more climate efficient and produce more, he argued, before calling for a stable CAP with a strong budget behind it. Cogeca President Thomas Magnusson laid great emphasis on strengthening farmers’ positioning in the food chain. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)