A new study published on Wednesday 21 December by Copa and Cogeca, the farmers’ and agri co-operatives’ organisations in the EU confirms the difficult situation hitting EU farmers, hard hit by volatile markets, high input costs and red tape.
This was also shown by new figures released the same day by the EU statistical office, Eurostat, which estimates another 2% drop in EU farm incomes this year, compared to 2015, which was already a difficult year.
Copa & Cogeca Secretary General Pekka Pesonen said that the survey confirmed that, although confidence had picked up slightly amongst some farmers towards the end of 2016 after a slight recovery in the EU dairy and pork markets, the situation remained unfavourable, particularly in the arable crops sector.
Eurostat confirmed the fall in agricultural income in 2016, with significant differences among the member states. The drop is very marked in some countries (25.5% in Estonia and 25% in Denmark). In France, farmers’ income also fell (by 15.8%), as it did in Belgium (12.4%), Latvia (12.3%), Slovenia (10.7%), Italy (7.7%), Germany (4.7%), United Kingdom (4.0%), Luxembourg (1.6%), Greece (1.2%) and Sweden (0.1%). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)