On Wednesday 23 March, the European Commission presented, a series of measures to stabilise agricultural markets and support EU producers, including derogations to grow food and feed on set-aside land.
These measures are set out in a specific Communication on food safety (https://aeur.eu/f/wi ), but legislation must be formally adopted by the EU institutions (see other news).
“The Commission today adopted an implementing act that allows Member States to derogate from certain greening obligations and thus expand the EU’s agricultural production capacity”, said the European Commission Executive Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis, on Wednesday. “This is an exceptional and temporary measure”, he insisted.
The Commission also supports Member States in making use of the possibilities to reduce the proportion of biofuel blends - as this would also lead to a reduction in the amount of EU agricultural land used for the production of biofuel feedstocks - and to direct it towards food production instead.
Short-term emergency measures are important, “but they do not replace the importance of reorienting the agri-food sector towards sustainability and resilience in order to better cope with future crises”, Valdis Dombrovskis also said.
The EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, has reiterated Ukrainian farmers’ demands for fuel, fertiliser and seeds (see EUROPE 12916/3), insisting that Russia wants to create famine in Ukraine (see other news).
“We are convinced of food safety in the EU”, the Commissioner said.
€500 million. The Commission has proposed (https://aeur.eu/f/wj ) an exceptional aid of €500 million for EU farmers using the crisis reserve of €350 million. Of this amount, €89 million euros will go to France, €64 million to Spain, €60 million to Germany and €48 million to Italy.
Member States will be able to provide financial support to farmers to contribute to global food security or to remedy market disturbances. They will be allowed to grant additional support (national aid) of up to double the amounts of the EU envelope, i.e. a potential total of €1.5 billion. They will have to pay this additional support by 30 September 2022.
Advances. To address possible cash-flow problems this autumn, the Commission will allow Member States to increase advance payments to farmers on direct payments and on area and animal-related rural development measures starting 16 October 2022.
Derogations. The Commission adopted a decision to allow, only for 2022, the production of grass and food and feed crops on set-aside land.
EU production capacity could increase by 4.5 million hectares, according to Wojciechowski.
These are derogations from the rules on the greening of aid linked to crop diversification and areas of ecological interest. States could allow the use of plant protection products on these lands.
We will see if the measure is useful in 2023, Wojciechowski said.
Private storage. From 25 March, operators will have the possibility (https://aeur.eu/f/wk ) to apply for aid to cover part of the costs of storing pigmeat, provided that they keep it off the market for a period of between two and five months.
The levels of support vary according to the cuts in stock. Applications can be submitted until 29 April.
The aim is to stabilise the markets, the Commissioner said.
However, the situation in this market has been improving for some time. The measures aim to help the pigmeat sector “face the challenges of more expensive feed”, an EU source said. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)