France, current European Union president and agricultural powerhouse, hopes to get EU ministers to sign up this week to broad pledges on farm policy before the bloc embarks on its next round of tortuous budget negotiations.
France wants to persuade EU farm ministers about future challenges such as climate change and rising global food demand making it necessary to raise output and productivity -- as well as to maintain agriculture everywhere in Europe.
Not all of this is stated quite so specifically in the three-page paper that France intends to be endorsed at Friday’s meeting. It is still being revised by experts.