The European Milk Board (EMB) is calling for long-term reforms in the EU farming system, including moving away from dependence on taxpayer money.
In an open letter to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, the EMB said the situation for EU farmers “has deteriorated dramatically”.
The letter, signed by EMB president Kjartan Poulsen, noted that large-scale protests and actions are continuing by farmers across the EU who are frustrated by low prices, high costs and red tape.
“The support among citizens for the important concerns voiced by us farmers is growing, while at the same time the faith in political and public institutions is waning,” Poulsen said.
Farming
The EMB offered its cooperation to draw up a framework for European farming which “leads to fundamental changes and reforms”.
“Let us use this moment, this opportunity to reform the EU agricultural system – the agricultural market – in a direction that makes it future-proof.
“Producers being able to earn a living from the market must be the aim of these reforms,” Poulsen said.
The EMB president said that “temporarily calming protests with subsidies and filling only the most-urgent gaps and shortfalls is not a long-term option”.
“The agricultural sector must move away from dependence on taxpayer money towards a balanced sector where margins are fairly distributed between different market stakeholders.
“As long as this aspect is not addressed, we will simply continue down the same path, which has pushed us farmers into an ignoble situation and has led to protests in individual countries that have shaken the EU as a whole,” he said.
“If we are able to work together to develop future prospects where producer income on the market is ensured in the long term, it will lead to trust and thus support for the EU and its institutions.
“For this to happen, food production must evolve from an unprofitable sector that is, furthermore, addicted to subsidies, to a profitable one,” Poulson added.
The EMB president said that reform should convince young people to enter the agriculture sector and give existing farmers the income they need to produce food.
EMB has invited Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioner Wojciechowski to meet “to jointly discuss the possibilities for and design of essential reforms in the agricultural sector”.