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CEJA SEMINAR - September 2008
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Lizzy Baxter (National Chairman) and I (Sally Wilson, Agri-Affairs Chair) recently attended a CEJA seminar in Annecy, France. This seminar was to coincide with an informal meeting of all of the EU’s agricultural ministers also in Annecy which was called by the French to set the ball rolling on discussions surrounding the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) during the French presidency of the EU.
The seminar was opened by three speakers, William Villeneuve, the President of Young Farmers in France (Jeunes Agriculteurs), Peter Szasz, CEJA vice-president and finally Michel Barnier, the French Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries. All spoke about their hopes for the seminar and the future of the CAP and agriculture in general. As the three speakers were all French their opinions were unsurprisingly along the same lines although Michel Barnier was keen to stress the integral role young farmers play in agriculture and its future along with his wish to agree to a CAP that is not constrained by a budget pre-decided, he felt the budget should be made to fit the CAP not the other way around.
After a much appreciated coffee break with croissants and pain au chocolat galore we moved into the first of the panel discussions. Various perspectives were looked at ranging from a statement on the international food and farming situation, the role Europe’s young farmers are to take in alleviating food scarcity around the globe and how to face market hazards to guarantee a sufficient food supply in the world. The three speakers were Pierre Pagasse from MOMA, a world agricultural organisation, Neil Parish, the President of the European Parliament’s Commission for Agriculture and Rural Development and Ralph Ichter from Euroconsultants Washington INC. Neil Parish came in for the toughest questioning, mainly because of the perception that he will have the most influence on future policy within the EU but I suspect also because his perception of farming seemed to be somewhat different to every young farmer representative in the room which is of concern!
In the afternoon came the much anticipated meeting with EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mariann Fischer Boel. She always likes active discussion with young farmers as she firmly believes we are the ones who need more help to create a viable and sustainable future which will see young people continuing to farm. She stressed though that subsidy will continue along the de-coupling route, contrary to French wishes. There was also a hint made that the grant available to young farmers, currently €50,000, should increase as that figure is outdated. As the UK has previously declined from using this option I wouldn’t get your hopes up about it, but for the rest of Europe it will no doubt be very welcome news.
Following on from the Commissioners visit there was another panel discussion on the development of a sustainable agriculture in Europe. This followed some interesting lines of thought with some having the perception that post 2010 the UK would lead the discussions in this at EU level…hmm we shall see. There was also a presentation by a representative from the Hungarian Embassy who explained how Hungary had benefited from joining the EU and especially the CAP. Another coffee break was called before we launched into the final panel discussion of the day with a young farmer from Luxembourg speaking alongside a member of Euromontana and a member of the Committee of Regions. These were all very positive outlooks which sent us to dinner in high spirits.
The Monday morning broke all too early after a fantastic nights food and entertainment, designed to highlight everything French – not sure how Lizzy took to the Foie Gras though, apparently it’s ok wrapped in bread. We were split into working groups to look at 4 different issues concerning young farmers:
• Risks and crisis management in agriculture
• Management of European markets
• Support of the least favoured production sectors, populations and territories
• The European model of agriculture in international agricultural exchanges
I was in the group discussing the management of European markets and as could be expected this discussion got very heated. It was a real eye-opener to me just how many differences there are between governments implementation of EU regulations. As has always been the suspicion the UK government unnecessarily gold-plates every last edict that the EU issues. There were opinions put forward from French, Italians, Finnish, Spanish, Portuguese young farmers and obviously myself. The question of milk quota took over for a while but was deemed an impossible situation that will be decided by each member state purely because of the differing methods of implementation. In France for example milk quota is attached to the land, you cannot purchase extra quota as in the UK, if you are a young farmer you can apply for quota to start a dairy business and it is granted free of charge. As many of you will know this is far from the case in the UK. The general feeling in the room was that deregulation was not the way forward, the UK dairy industry was taken as an example of this where we are the least regulated but receive the lowest price for our product but consumers pay the highest. I argued that that was not a reason to regulate markets as our dairy farmers are among the most efficient if not the most efficient in Europe because we were farming in response to market demand whilst having to cope with distortion in the markets by regulation elsewhere. The one point of agreement with everyone was that supermarkets hold far too much power and that unless competition rules are changed to allow more farmer co-operation this is unlikely to change. The French suggested the creation of marketing boards (which would seem a step back to Scottish farmers) in order to find the best price for all of the different products. The Italians felt that we should work together better as farmers across the EU with improved communication and market tracking so we all know where we should be targeting our products. I could keep on going on the discussions as they were definitely the most important part of the seminar but I don’t want to bore you all!
Lizzy’s group also engaged in heated discussions. The group discussed the European Model of Agricultutre in International Agricultural Exchanges. First off they were asked to discuss on how Ceja consider the current state of WTO, which was met by an overall general consensus of wanting a level playing field. European standards were also brought into the discussion which resulted in a general debate and was mainly an EU concern. We would want our standards included or no talks should take place within the market place. Stability was needed in this area and it was good that there had been no agreement. The next topic that was brought to the table was with regards to promoting EU preference to society and if we felt that it would be of any use. This was where things became rather heated and the group did not agree. Part of the group agreed that education is a main factor of this and promotion is the key. Society need to understand things before they will be prepared to pay that bit extra for high quality produce! Some of the group felt that promoting EU preference was being too stringent and that allowing society to make up their own mind about what they buy was the way forward. The group eventually agreed to disagree and left the room with a very good impression of where each other stood.
Following the working groups we formulated a declaration from CEJA on the CAP after 2013: Ensuring the renewal of generations in agriculture. If anyone wants to read this it is available in the agri affairs download section.
Lunch was followed by farm visits. Lizzy and I went to a small mountain dairy farm whose milk was being made into geographically protected Savoie cheese. This was run through a co-operative who sold all the milk to a cheesemaker. The strange element in all of this was that the co-operative built and owned the factory which the cheesemaker rented from them. When I asked about vertical integration and why did they not employ the cheesemaker directly to make the most of added value they replied with typical French reticence that this was just the way it was. It was only when I returned home I discovered that the French co-operatives found themselves in trouble not so long ago with the problem of corporate integration, where responsibility was passed around and no-one prepared to step up and work for the common good. By renting out the factory the element of risk is eliminated as the cheesemaker is entirely responsible for the marketing and sales of the cheese.
Back to the hotel for a quick change then off to a very welcome cocktail reception with all the EU ministers of agriculture, except Richard Lochhead and Hilary Benn. Lizzy and I still managed to be productive though and chanced upon the secretary of Mariann Fischer Boel who is planning to visit Scotland in March when we hope to meet with her. Having this direct line will be very important.
That was the final night and so nothing remained but to head home. This was my second CEJA seminar and Lizzy’s first and I think we both took different things away from the few days in Annecy all equally important. If anyone has any questions at all please don’t hesitate to get in touch and if anyone wishes to represent SAYFC at any upcoming seminars this would be warmly welcomed as we are always looking for representatives.
Sally Wilson (Agri-Affairs Chairman)
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