NFU joins G120 global farming summit to discuss volatile markets

The NFU will this week take part in a global farming summit to discuss the unprecedented challenges that lie ahead.

NFU President Peter Kendall will join the leaders of 120 agricultural associations from 75 countries on Thursday (June 16) for a meeting in Paris billed as the "G120" - being held to coincide with the G20 meeting of agricultural ministers. The agenda will be dominated by talks on increased demand, extreme price instability and the impacts of climate change, with the purpose of sending a strong message to the politicians and policy makers of the G20.

Mr Kendall said he was pleased that both the French farmers’ association FNSEA and the French presidency of the G20 were bringing agricultural leaders and ministers together for the first time to discuss these critical issues.

"We will need to produce considerably more food by 2050 to meet demand from a growing population and Europe’s farmers want to play their part. The Government’s Foresight report, which set out the challenges for global food production was a wake-up call and pointed to the need to take urgent and co-ordinated action. So I congratulate our French colleagues on bringing so many farming groups together, that’s no mean feat.

"Farmers will face increased volatility in the coming decade as market fundamentals adapt to an era of higher global demand and lack of long term investment in agricultural production. There is a strong case for greater transparency and availability of market data to better understand what is happening in agricultural markets.

"Any long term solution to extreme price volatility will involve increasing the productivity and resilience of the agriculture sector in a world where climate change is a reality. That’s where agricultural research and development must be targeted. It will mean investing in regions where agricultural production is less likely to be at risk of severe climatic events and in varieties and breeds that are able to cope with what climate change will bring.

"Central to this is reform of the CAP. As farmers, we’d all like to get to a place where we can be much less reliant on CAP support, but to achieve this requires a number of conditions to be met. Until then a strong CAP remains essential. We advocate a policy that does what it says on the tin - that is focused on farmers and farming activity, that is common in its funding and mechanisms and that is a policy determined at EU level. However, we believe that the CAP must evolve after 2013.

"But the key challenge for the next reform of the CAP is to address the way the market itself functions. A fairer and more balanced market would mean that farmers stood a much better chance of making profitable returns. Until then, direct support payments to farmers will remain a crucial component of the policy, helping farmers to deal with market shocks as well as supporting them in meeting the higher standards of production that are expected of European farmers."