EU seeks to modernise farm subsidies

BRUSSELS (AFP) — The European Commission unveiled plans Tuesday to shake up Europe's farm subsidies in a bid to make costly hand-outs more relevant to the modern world as the sector enjoys the strongest boom in generations.

While past reforms have geared the European Union's Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) towards reining in production, farmers are now struggling to keep up with surging demand fuelled by explosive growth in China and India.

Kicking off a six-month review of the CAP, the EU's executive arm floated the idea of capping hand-outs to the biggest farms, phasing out milk quotas, scrapping rules on keeping land fallow and guaranteed minimum cereals prices.

Based on the findings of the review, the Commission is to come forward with reform proposals in May that would both modernise and simplify Europe's support of its farms.