Verbatim report of proceedings

Monday, 6 July 2015 - Strasbourg

Review of the implementation of the Dairy package (debate)

  John Stuart Agnew, on behalf of the EFDD Group.– Mr President, Jim Nicholson’s report gives a good overview of the present situation, as one might expect. What is absent is a clear strategy for the industry to ride out the current market pressures. Action is called for on symptoms without always a clear understanding of causes. The report highlights that the CAP has failed in its intended social outcome to keep farmers viable regardless of their size. However, this is not a reason to start market interventions with consequent trade distortions. Calls for a cost-of-production formula assume that there is a single magical figure. In reality, cost of land to rent or for mortgage, repayment on loans for farm buildings and equipment, proportion of unpaid family labour, access to cheap by-products for feed, the impact of nitrate-vulnerable zones (NVZs) and other regulations make a single cost-of-production figure quite impossible. And of course, some producers concentrate on low-cost milk but have to accept lower prices, and some vice versa. If we want to keep farmers on the land for purely social reasons, then Pillar 2 is more appropriate.

Current market pressures are affecting large farmers just as much as smaller colleagues, but the rush to expand, post-quota, is not always based on objective business planning. Despite these low prices, agricultural lenders tell me that they have plenty of requests from clients to fund dairy expansion. I would urge dairy farmers to look at the pig, poultry and egg sectors, because that is their future. In other words, a tightly-knit supply chain, intense communication from start to finish, and a willingness to adapt to consumer preferences, labelling of country of origin and persuading retailers to commit ...

(The President cut off the speaker)