Corner Post
Farm & Countryside
Commentary by Elbert van Donkersgoed
March 7, 2003
When British and
French farmers agree on an issue, it's worth investigating.
Back in January
the European Commission published its latest proposal for
reforms of the
European Union's Common Agricultural Policy. These latest
proposals clearly
cut farm production subsidies.
French farmers were the first to
forcefully reject the plan. France profits
more from farm production
subsidies than any other European Union country.
British farmers
declared that the new policy does not fit in the United
Kingdom. They too
reject the reduction in production subsidies but focus
their criticism on
the proposal to reduce the aid payments according to farm
size. Larger
farms face bigger percentage cuts, and the UK's farm size is
much bigger
than most of Europe.
But this latest plan for reform, which "happens"
to cut production
subsidies, has a much bigger
agenda.
The most significant goal is a simplified, efficient
administration by the
European Commission of what all the member states do
in the name of the
Common Agricultural Policy.
The
reform proposes a single farm payment, independent of production and
based
on the average of whatever subsidies a farm received during the
previous
three years. No lengthy application forms backed by proof from
satellite
imagery and animal passports to show how much land is in
production or how
many animals are kept. Just a single farm income payment.
Easy
administration.
A second innovation is just as dramatic. It
is a response to the
long-standing criticism of the Common Agricultural
Policy: that production
subsidies divide farmers from their markets,
suppress innovation, and
destroy economic and environmental
value.
The new payments will be linked to respect for the
environment, food safety,
occupational safety and countryside stewardship.
As long as a farmer keeps
his land in agricultural condition, the farmer
will continue to receive the
single farm payment, irrespective of the
amount of food produced. Farmers
who deliver an attractive, healthy
countryside will be rewarded, making the
environment a selling point, not a
sore point, for the sector.
The rationale for this major shift in
European farm policy has been building
for a decade. Production subsidies
paid to farmers under the Common
Agricultural Policy are now seen as part
of the problem rather than the
solution. A new guiding principle has
emerged: use public money to pay for
public goods that the public wants and
needs.
This is an innovative approach to agricultural subsidies. Will
Europe's
environment benefit? No doubt. I am skeptical, however, of the
claims by
European politicians that their new approach will reduce
over-production.
Total subsidies for European agriculture and the
countryside are not
declining. Farmers, with their ingenuity and
entrepreneurship, should not
be
underestimated.
