Farm Europe, which believes that because of the war in Ukraine food security has once again “entered our political agenda and our concerns”, called on Monday 14 March for “immediate” EU measures to find a way out of the current crisis for EU farmers.
Russia and Ukraine together account for almost a third of global wheat exports, 19% of exported corn and 80% of sunflower oil exports, Farm Europe recalls.
The think tank is calling on the EU to take the following measures (see other news): - the mobilisation of €479 million from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) crisis reserve and an increase of this reserve in 2022 (but without reducing direct aid to farmers); - financial aid to farms for the purchase of fertiliser and feed for livestock; - increase European protein production (temporarily lifting set-aside requirements); - specific crisis measures for each sector to deal with the effects of the closure of certain markets; - monthly monitoring of sectors (analysis of production, exports, imports and stocks).
Farm Europe is again calling on the European Commission to reconsider the strategies arising from the European Green Deal and proposes, in order to encourage innovative technologies in agriculture, “an immediate massive investment plan of €15 billion in precision farming and digital agriculture, funded outside the CAP to the tune of €7 billion”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)