MEPs Call for New Measures to Help Farmers Combat Price Change

09 Nov 2016 --- The EU must introduce a raft of new measures to help farmers combat price volatility and ensure their future welfare, according to a vote passed by the EU's Agriculture Committee.

The committee of MEPs said the food supply chain should be more transparent and the EU budget more flexible to help farmers, who are battling volatile prices in markets across the world.

“I am really happy with the result of the vote. We are paving the way for the upcoming Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The long-term aims of the CAP must be to ensure fair standards of living for the agricultural community, stabilise markets and guarantee viable food production,” said rapporteur Angélique Delahaye.

“That's why we have to push for a better organisational capability in various sectors and to strengthen the contractual systems for farmers, processors, and distributors at the same time.”

The vote was passed by 20 voting for and 11 against.

MEPs argued the current Common Agricultural Policy lacks effective tools to address growing market volatility and to help farmers cope with price changes, according to the resolution.

It says that existing risk management tools, such as mutual funds, income stabilisation and insurance are implemented slowly, unevenly and are poorly funded. 

To combat this, it said the EU must develop new climate, health and economic risk management tools, as well using existing ones to the full, to safeguard the EU’s food autonomy, ensure competitive and sustainable farming on the continent and encourage new entrants.

These new tools should be fairer, more efficient and responsive, but also affordable for farmers and properly funded, they add.

Additionally, the EU Commission should develop complementary public and private sector tools for crisis prevention and management, along with tailored and binding early-warning systems, and study ways to prevent and combat price volatility crises through counter cyclical aids.

Farmers must also be better informed about ways to make their holdings more competitive and on options available to them when it comes to risk management, they said.

Additionally, information on prices and costs must be made timelier and easier to access for all supply chain stakeholders.

The resolution will now be scrutinised by other EU official in December this year.