The EU has brought out a second report on the state of food security in the EU: https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/document/download/a91b3841-6021-489e-b877-7f0f5278c88c_en?filename=efscm-assessment-spring-2024_en.pdf It highlights weather and cost concerns on supply side and high food prices on demand side ..read more

Alan Matthews writes here about farmer protests and the 2024 European Parliament elections: https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/2024/number/2/article/farmer-protests-and-the-2024-european-parliament-elections.html He states:'This article looks at the origins of this recent wave of farm protests and asks whether a crisis situation exists in European farming as the Commission has suggested. It examines the measures that have been adopted and proposed in response. These measures, while consistent with the previously existing trend to roll back elements of the Green Deal, are in thems ..read more

Ministers have urged the EU to increase funding for the €60bn-a-year Common Agricultural Policy subsidy scheme in a bid to quell protests as Belgian farmers blockaded roads and set fire to tyres in central Brussels. The CAP, which consumes about a third of the EU’s joint budget and is the oldest of the bloc’s policies still in operation, is designed to provide a steady stream of income to farmers in order to ensure food production. But as farmers staged their latest protests on Monday over rising costs and environmental regulations, ministers gathering in Brussels to discuss emergency measures ..read more

Some excellent in depth analysis of why farmers are protesting across Europe and how they relate to climate change: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-do-the-eu-farmer-protests-relate-to-climate-change/ Look out for some further analysis that will appear soon in Political Quarterly ..read more

The European Commission has thrown in the towel on plans to cut climate change emissions in agriculture: https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/eu-commission-backtracks-on-agricultural-emissions-cuts/ The recent farmer protests across Europe have undoubtedly been a factor, but there has also been concern about far right gains in the upcoming European Parliament elections which could undermine the European project as a whole.  The desire of Urusla von Ley en to secure a second term as Commission president is also part of the context: https://neighbourhood-enlargem ..read more

It's been no surprise to see French farmers blocking motorways.   Such demonstrations are part of the political culture of France and farmers are particularly likely to resort to them. However, all over Europe farmers are in revolt.   In the Netherlands they have given support to an insurgent party while Polish farmers are threatening to block the border with Ukraine to halt grain shipments. All this is happening when farmers receive quite generous subsidies with the CAP still accounting for around a third of the EU budget.    Admittedly, input prices went up shar ..read more

As Germany faces a budget crisis, German farmers are furious at the withdrawal of the tax exemption for agricultural diesel.   Farmers blockaded large parts of central Berlin with a convoy of tractors yesterday. The measure is expected to save the state about €900m a year and was apparently agreed over the head of farm minister Cem Ozdemir who has publicly criticised it.  It is estimated that the average farm will have to pay an additional €6,000 a year in tax as a result. 'Red' diesel was retained in the UK after Brexit ..read more

Progress on the greening of the CAP is stalling according to the OECD: https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/tie-farming-subsidies-to-performance-oecd-tells-eu/ The OECD calls for a more results oriented CAP ..read more

My article with Alan Greer on the impact of Brexit on agricultural policy in the four nations of the UK is available to view free online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13501763.2023.2204118 ..read more

The debate about the CAP post 2027 is starting and Alan Matthews looks in depth at an IEEP paper on the green transition: http://capreform.eu/how-to-advance-the-green-transition-in-the-next-cap-post-2027 ..read more