EMB Newsletter May 2021
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Contact
EMB - European Milk Board asbl
Rue de la Loi 155
B-1040 Bruxelles
Phone: +32 - 2808 - 1935
Fax: +32 - 2808 - 8265
Dear dairy farmers, dear interested parties,
For quite a long time, Irish and European farmers in various member states have become aware of the fickle affection with which we are regarded by our governments. When it suits them – as in the immediate aftermath of the financial crash of a decade ago or the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic – we are encouraged to “farm for Ireland” or to “keep feeding Europe”. New ambitious targets are set and worked towards, semi-states and agencies are told to get behind these national strategies. And we farmers are led to believe that as soon as the emergency is over and officialdom has the time and breathing space, then long-overdue attention will be given to our issues and complaints about disappearing margins, shortfall of costs, over-regulation, rural crime etc.
Of course, that never happens. As soon as the emergency is over, the normal indifferent attitude to farming and food production smoothly resumes. By far the greatest attention farming gets from the Irish Government now is what seems like a daily ratcheting of the regulatory apparatus around sustainability. There are influential elements in Irish policymaking that see Irish commercial farming as something that must be broken down and remade in a new and very different way. They would describe that new way as “environmentally sustainable”; we would describe that new way as “economically, socially and culturally unsustainable”. The model we seem to be moving towards has commercial farming as a necessary evil. We reject that, and will not permit farming to be caricatured as, in any way, the culprit to be held responsible for general environmental degradation. Everyone and every part of society, in Ireland as well as in the EU, has contributed to the problem and everyone – and very specifically the consumer – is going to have to contribute to the solution.
The European Commission’s proposals for the CAP post-2020 show a substantial increase in the CAP’s environmental ambition. In 2020, the Commission published its ‘Farm to Fork’ and Biodiversity Strategies. These reflect a further increased level of environmental ambition, as does the current Irish Programme for Government, Ag Climatise, the ambitious Climate Action Plan and the new Food 2030 Plan published mid-April. Together, they will create severe and unprecedented cost and production pressure. In late 2020, the Commission issued recommendations to member states regarding the implementation of ‘Farm to Fork’ in the CAP Strategic Plans. In simple terms, it will be the most environmentally ambitious CAP. It will put further focus on our farm inputs and outputs and most likely reduce our income from the CAP. As ever, ICMSA and EMB are fighting for commercial farmers and the coverage of their costs and will try and ensure the deals produced are as sustainable economically as they are environmentally.
Brexit issues may have received less attention across the continent since the signing of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) in late December, but it remains front and centre in the mind of Irish farm and Agri-food businesses. It was no secret that Ireland had a long history of exporting agricultural goods into Great Britain and the introduction of non-tariff barriers is having an enormous effect on some Irish products. Export declarations are now common on all Agri-goods heading to Great Britain and it has now effectively meant that any agricultural product that was taking the trans-Britain "land bridge" to the EU is now sailing direct to the continent. This is already causing cost and logistical friction but much more is expected next September when the UK ends their “light touch” and enforces all the nuances of the new CTA. Irish and European farmers will continue to adapt to this new reality, but the fact is that change is happening now in every aspect of farming at a pace that is difficult to keep up with.
Pat McCormack, EMB Executive Committee member and ICMSA President
More power to young farmers – especially in the CAP!
Impressum
European Milk Board asbl
Rue de la Loi 155
B-1040 Bruxelles
Phone: +32 2808 1935
Fax: +32 2808 8265
E-Mail: office@europeanmilkboard.org
Website: http://www.europeanmilkboard.org