A positive u-turn. One cannot fail to be delighted at the re-discovery of the importance of agriculture! The looming food crisis and fears about how it will impact have led to a type of positive united front being formed. There is page upon page on the issue in the press, where serious analysis and suggested solutions are mushrooming at every turn. Politicians and political movements which looked down their noses in the past at the idea of protecting farming in Europe are now falling over themselves to give the impression that they have always been firm defenders of agriculture. The British are doing their best to get people to forget their recent attempts to open up the markets to farm products from anywhere in the world, which would have led to the collapse of European farming. Even the once much maligned idea of self-sufficiency in food for the EU is now coming of age - it can be mentioned without being the subject of derision and insults (I myself experienced such reactions in the past in university circles).
Demagogic ideas dominated for years - even among the Socialists and the Greens at the European Parliament, who believed they were helping poor countries by encouraging them to grow food to export to rich countries. And with such indignant clamouring against so-called EU 'protectionism'! People felt sorry for those calling for farming to cover the whole of Europe, pitying them for their backwardness, and reacting the same way to the poor souls talking about food self-sufficiency. All that has changed. Parliamentarians are rediscovering the battles once lost due to lack of fighters, like encouraging the growing of protein-rich fodder to feed farm animals and Europe's right to grow soya, even if a few subsidies are needed to get things started.
Strange discoveries. In the media, reactions are highly diverse. I will give just one typical example. The French newspaper 'Le Monde', which had called down fire and brimstone for years upon the common agricultural policy and its accursed subsidies, has now changed its tune, along with its editorialists and leader writers one would think. On 23 April 2008, there was page upon page of headlines along the lines of 'The Return of Agriculture', 'Farming as the wealth of nations'. In addition, there was an interview with European Commissioner Louis Michel on the necessity for a farm revolution in Africa, and a commentary on the Doha Round trade negotiations in Geneva (calling for a global farm deal to be avoided). Making a strongly argued case for food to be grown in Africa to feed the locals, I saw that they have finally accepted an idea that will not come as any surprise to readers of this column, but which has always been slammed by big business, big supermarket chains and various international bodies that pretend to defend poor countries. I quote the article: one of the main causes of the food crisis 'has generally been overlooked - the collapse, especially in Africa, of small farmers who grow cereals, manioc, fruit and vegetables, poultry, etc, for the local market. Traditional farming has generally given way to the industrial farming of commodities (peanuts, coffee, cocoa, cotton, rubber, etc) for export that have no value-added where they are grown. This production-oriented farm drive, which sometimes goes as far as growing only a single crop, was backed by the suppliers of funding, short-sighted development policies and local governments that always want to get their hands on big projects (…) It was all ended in disaster. (…) Restoring sustainable food security will require the resurrection, in developing countries, of traditional farming of food for the local market and supporting family farming.'
The European path. So much for Africa. What about Europe? On the same day in the same newspaper, economist and historian Nicolas Baverez sounded his fury: 'Since 1992, 10% of farm-land has been set aside in the European Union (…) What is urgently needed is that the 3.5 million hectares that have been set aside be returned to productive farming, that the export subsidies that create huge distortions to the detriment of emerging economies be scrapped (…), and true priority should be given to harmonising standards, particularly health standards.' The absurdity of a Europe that relies on imports to feed itself is not explicitly mentioned, but that author does point out that Argentina, Ukraine, Egypt, India and Vietnam have introduced export quotas or export levies, concluding: 'The planet is rudely awakening to the fact that agriculture is a strategically important industry.'
This u-turn is clearly positive. The penny has dropped both deeply and universally, and awareness of the importance of farming is now as widespread as awareness of the danger of climate change (the risk of food shortages is generally connected with the danger of climate change anyway). But sharp disagreements remain over the approach to be taken in crucial areas (biofuels, GMOs, etc). I will return to this tomorrow.
(F.R.)