British farmers will join thousands of their European counterparts to protest in Brussels today, around 4000 farmers will gather for a mass demonstration outside the venue for an extraordinary meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers.
"Monday’s protest has been organized by European farmers organisation Copa-Cogeca – of which the NFU, NFU Scotland, NFU Cymru and Ulster Farmers Union are long-standing members," the NFU said.
"It is deliberately timed to coincide with an emergency meeting of the Agriculture Council – a monthly meeting of Agriculture Ministers from European member states. Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan will attend the meeting and is expected to brief ministers on steps to take to help the agriculture sector.
"We know that volatility goes hand in hand with farming – like rain in harvest season. But our decision-makers in Brussels could help us withstand that volatility better. We have a number of short, medium and long term actions that we believe UK ministers and the European Commission should address in order for the UK farming sector to thrive and prosper."
Ahead of the protest NFU dairy board chairman Rob Harrison met with MEPs and European Commission officials to repeat calls for the milk intervention price to be reviewed to create a more realistic floor in the market. And he urged Commissioner Hogan to take steps to assist in developing a fully functioning dairy futures market in the EU.
Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: "I recognise the seriousness of the current situation for our hardworking farmers and I will be pushing the EU Commission tomorrow for urgent action to help them through this turbulent time.
"Dairy farmers are a vital part of our £100billion food and farming industry. I want to support the industry to become more resilient and ready to take advantage of the growing demand for British dairy both at home and overseas.
"That’s why we are urgently pursuing a range of measures to build on best practice in the industry, provide better promotion of our world class products, and boost support for local producers from the public sector including government departments, schools and hospitals."
NFU livestock board chairman Charles Sercombe called on European farming organisations to demand a new task force on market transparency in the lamb sector.
And today NFU President Meurig Raymond will tell a UK Ministerial Delegation why action is needed quickly.
Mr Raymond said: “British farmers from all sectors are calling on the UK Government to work with the European Commission to implement 10 key measures to enable British farmers to better withstand market volatility.
“We have already seen farmers demonstrating across England and Wales. Farming union Presidents, including myself, met Government ministers for talks at a summit in Westminster where Defra recognised that more needed to be done to back British farming during these extremely volatile times.
“Now, farmers need the Secretary of State to strongly stand up for British farming interests in Europe.
“We need the European Commission to implement measures to ease cash flow difficulties and strengthen safety nets.
“We need a long term approach in the food supply chain. In dairy this means contracts that allow farmers to plan for the future and lock in a milk price reflective of the cost of production.
“British farmers need the GSCOP and Groceries Code Adjudicator to stamp out unfair trading practices in the food supply chain. I want that same protection offered by other member states when British farmers trade with European retailers.
"British shoppers tell us they want to see more British food on the shelves.
“We urge UK ministers to work alongside their devolved and European colleagues to significantly strengthen country of origin labelling across all food lines.
Ulster Farmers’ Union president Ian Marshall said: ""Unfortunately, the response from commission officials was not encouraging and while they have not yet reached any final decisions on possible support measures for the dairy sector or indeed the wider agriculture industry in general, they remain unconvinced that a review of dairy intervention is part of the solution to the present difficulties facing the sector."
At both meetings, the NFU will push for short, medium and long term measures that can address the problems facing Scottish farmers and crofters.
These include:
- Easing cash flow difficulties and strengthening safety nets by ensuring delivery of direct support payments under the new CAP arrangements in December; delivery of agri-environment and rural development support in early autumn; significantly simplifying the CAP; exploring options for long term investment in agriculture through the European Investment Bank and commitment to review the intervention levels for dairy products.
- Injecting long term thinking and fairness into the food supply chain at both UK and EU levels; ensure food sourced from out with the EU doesn’t contravene EU regulations or distort the market place; establish an EU task force to tackle the lamb market and sheep sector and drive forward longer term measures in the dairy sector to provide resilience to extreme volatility.
- Developing opportunities for UK produce and UK farmers by significantly strengthening country of origin labelling (COOL); increase funding levels available for promoting Scottish or UK produce in new markets both in EU and non-EU countries and strengthen investment in farming, research and innovation to improve productivity, efficiency and competitiveness.
Speaking ahead of his Brussels trip, NFU Scotland President Allan Bowie said: “These are unprecedented times for Scottish farming with so many key contributors to our agricultural output – cropping, livestock and dairy - struggling in the face of low prices, extreme market volatility and challenging weather. But we are not alone, and these are problems faced by fellow farmers in the UK and across Europe
“In Scottish, UK and European terms, farming remains hugely important in delivering economic and environmental benefits. It provides high quality food, manages the countryside and is the bedrock of the rural economy and that is why political action at all parliaments is required.
“While it is a perpetual challenge to manage the laws of supply and demand, there are actions that can be taken across the supply chain to ease the current crisis, prevent farmers going out of business and, instead, realise their potential. On Monday, we will discuss those actions with our politicians in Brussels and London.
“Along with our fellow UK farming unions, we believe there are measures that should be taken in the short, medium and long term by the UK and devolved administrations in close collaboration with the EU institutions to address the problems facing the farming sector.”
