At the end of the EU Council meeting in Luxembourg on Monday 27 April, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, announced that the European Commission was examining measures to help farmers in the cereals sector in particular to cope with the high cost of fertilisers.
“Fertiliser costs are high. And our cereal producers are under particular pressure. They have to pay more to produce, but they do not benefit from higher prices for their products. They can’t make a living from their work. And this is a very serious situation. I am fully aware of this and very concerned”, he declared at a press conference.
He said he wanted to avoid at all costs that farmers stop producing in the next harvest cycle and that “we lose productive land”.
“In the short term, we are looking at support measures for our farmers, both financial and regulatory. What we need is predictability and stability for the next sowing season”, said the Commissioner. In his view, this is not just a short-term crisis, but a structural challenge.
On 19 May, the Commission will present a European Fertiliser Action Plan (see EUROPE 13847/7). “Our aim is to reduce dependence on imports, increase domestic production, improve efficiency and promote the use of bio-sourced and low-carbon fertilisers”, said Mr Hansen. This includes nutrient recycling, biomethane and biogas, digestate recovery and innovative technologies.
CBAM criticised again. During a debate on the market situation, several ministers again sounded the alarm on a sensitive point in the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM): its extension to fertilisers and its effects on prices and availability.
CBAM aims to tax imported products that emit high levels of CO2 (steel, cement, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity, hydrogen, etc.) at the European Union’s borders in order to prevent carbon leakage. The ministers condemned the rise in the price of imported fertilisers.
Hendrik Johannes Terras, the Estonian Minister of Agriculture, called for fertilisers to be excluded from the scope of the CBAM, retroactively if possible. Armands Krauze, the Latvian Minister of Agriculture, called for the text on CBAM to be postponed and criticised the Commission’s response as insufficient (see EUROPE 13832/10). In this context, he asked for EU support for farmers.
Portugal stressed that it was essential for the Commission to move forward not only with a plan, but also with funding for EU farmers.
The Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, called for the Commission to present this plan quickly, focusing on price monitoring, more efficient use of fertilisers, alternative sources and trade policy instruments to reduce the EU’s dependence on third countries and secure food production. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)