URL: Latest posts
The GM debate
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This continues to rage on with entrenched positions being taken on either side. However, this interesting post argues that we shouldn't treat all GMOs alike and that we now have a good enough knowledge base to make informed judgments: GMOs...
UKIP and the CAP
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It is perhaps not surprising to learn that their agricultural policy is not particularly coherent and they are clearer about what they are against than what they would replace it with, but here is an interesting account of their policy stance on agri...
CAP reform deal not yet sewn up
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This week’s Farm Council meeting highlighted more of the divisions that remain on the CAP reform process than many observers, not least the EU Farm Commissioner and Irish Presidency, would have liked, reports Agra Europe. This meeting was signi...
Farmers and the EU
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Yesterday I spent a very interesting day in Yorkshire talking with a cross-section of farmers. As always, it was good to hear of the ingenuity that farmers deploy in diversification such as an upland sheep farmer who was producing honey using the su...
Greening remains big issue in CAP talks
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The general feeling from last week’s Farm Council and subsequent ComAgri meeting was that there needs to be more compromise from all sides in the forthcoming trilogue talks between the European Commission, Parliament and Council if they are to...
Commodity trading houses under fire
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Commodity trading houses are secretive, largely unregulated, pay relatively little tax and, until recently, have made big profits. Not surprisingly, they have come under increasing scrutiny with the Financial Times headlining a major investigation o...
Hoovering up farmland
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Sir James Dyson has bought up thousands of acres of Lincolnshire farmland, reports Farmers Weekly. He is believed to have paid some £150m for more than 6,800 ha./17,000 acres through a new company Beeswax Farming (Rainbow) Ltd. He has purchas...
Life imitating art
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The battle over the future of Bridge Farm in The Archers has been won by the hard headed business case over the more sentimental 'way of life' arguments associated with Pat Archer's affection for her cows. I thought that possibly the script writers...
Farmers face early SFP hit
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Farmers are likely to face an immediate hit in their 2013 subisdy payments. 'If farmers budget the same as for 2012, they may be in for a nasty surprise,' warned Richard King, head of research at the Andersons Centre.The proposed EU budget includes...
Further cuts in direct payments?
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CAP direct payments look set to be cut back even further than the recent level agreed by EU governments, it emerged this week, as the budget needs exceed the available funds. Agra Europe reports that the spending gap is due to the 2014-2020 funding...
CAP negotiations overview
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My views on the current state of the CAP negotiations can be found here: CAP reform Not sure I agree with the headline, as I think there is still a long way to go in terms of getting a more functional CAP, although it is the case that I am in favour...
Parliament good for democracy but not for decision-making
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The CAP is such an important part of what the EU does, not least in budgetary terms, that the European Parliament had to be made a decision-making partner if the institution is to mean anything in democratic terms. The downside is that it makes the...
Parliament has its say
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The European Parliament has had its say on the CAP reform process and, as predicted by Agra Europe last week, has largely backed the amendments proposed by its agriculture committee (ComAgri). The majority of MEPs backed the four ComAgri positions o...
Key vote in European Parliament on CAP
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Next week, the European Parliament will get to vote on CAP reform and the compromises agreed by its agriculture committee (ComAgri) back in January. It would seem to be the opinion of the majority within European agricultural circles that some form o...
10 per cent real cut in CAP budget
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It looks as if the outcome of the EU budget negotiations might be a 10 per cent cut in real terms in pillar one for UK farmers and a 22 per cent cut in pillar two: Budget Outcome A similar estimate of a 9 per cent in CAP expenditure in real terms, w...
A typical CAP compromise
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The Irish Presidency offered an alternative to the European Commission’s proposals on the convergence of CAP direct payments within member states at Monday’s Farm Council, and it seemed to go down well with most of those in attendance rep...
CAP reform assessed
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Here is a thoughtful and detailed look at the CAP reform proposals from the slow food movement: Slow Food In particular there is a detailed consideration of the greening proposals. Their general view is that the proposed reforms do contain some si...
CAP budget reduced in size
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The EU Council finally reached an agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) after marathon talks last weekend and it did not make for good reading for those who wanted to see an increase or real terms freeze in CAP spending reports Agra...
Sterling fall boosts farm incomes
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The weakening of sterling against the euro over the past four months potentially boosts UK farmers' single farm payment subsidies by £240m. For every 1p/euro change in exchange rates, the UK's single farm payments alter by around £40m.
France gives some ground
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France, the EU’s biggest beneficiary of CAP funds, had previously been in favour of opposing to any cuts to the share of CAP spending and instead favoured a freeze at 2013 levels in nominal terms (meaning a real terms cut) – a view suppor...
