The European Union has money for farmers. But protests continue across the continent

Farmers’ protests and demonstrations against national and European agricultural policies have taken place in around half of EU Member States in recent weeks. The reasons for the protests are different. In Germany, farmers are concerned about planned cuts in diesel subsidies. In Poland and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, farmers are blocking roads and border crossings because they want to prevent cheap imports of grain and agricultural products from Ukraine.

Demands of the farmers’ lobby. They want less stringent regulations

The European farmers’ organization COPA calls for less stringent environmental regulations, less bureaucracy in the complex EU agricultural policy rules and better international competition conditions.

That is why agricultural lobbyists reject, for example, the trade agreement with the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), because it would mean greater competition for European farmers, says the president of the farmers’ organization, Christiane Lambert, in a letter to the European Commission. “A few months before elections that are crucial for the future of Europe, farmers expect (…) the opportunity to continue their activities on acceptable conditions, with decent income and less administrative burden,” writes Christiane Lambert.

Brussels announces concessions

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has already reacted and withdrawn a legislative proposal aimed at halving the use of pesticides in Europe. However, this is not enough for protesting farmers in some countries. They want more concessions and less regulation. The head of the farmers’ and citizens’ movement in the Netherlands, Caroline van der Plas, complains that agriculture is not properly recognized and appreciated. “The people who produce our food are discredited as animal abusers, polluters, soil polluters and environmental polluters,” she told the Financial Times.

On Thursday, February 22, the European Commission presented new proposals intended to weaken the protests. The regulations are to be relaxed and the exceptions are to make it easier to obtain subsidies. The pressure “currently felt by our hard-working farmers must be eased to guarantee food safety,” said Commission President von der Leyen. – Simplifying our agricultural policy remains a priority – she added.

The representation of farmers’ interests in Member States and in the EU capital, Brussels, is influential. Christian Democrats in the European Parliament sided with farmers. Socialists are also very understanding. Nevertheless, we should not pretend that the regulations against which some farmers are rebelling are bad from an ecological and environmental point of view or fell from the sky, warned German SPD agricultural politician Maria Noichl during a debate in the European Parliament. -Let’s support farmers! Let’s go with them into the difficult time of climate change, Noichl said in her speech. Agriculture ministers and the European Parliament jointly adopted the so-called “farm to fork” strategy, which introduces a number of new regulations for farms.

Fewer farmers, same production

Climate protection, emission reduction and structural changes are also necessary in agriculture. Politicians in Brussels have no doubts about this. But how to organize it sensibly?

Structural change in European agriculture has been ongoing for years as the number of farms declines rapidly – by a third since 2005 to 9.2 million. However, the area under cultivation has not decreased. This means there are fewer farms, but they are getting bigger. The decreasing number of farms, which are still predominantly micro-farms with only one full-time employee, is not necessarily just about profitability. Many farmers of retirement age give up because there are no successors, young farmers. In addition, they receive special subsidies from the EU.

High incomes in Germany

European agriculture produces large surpluses that are exported. According to statistics from the German Ministry of Agriculture, the average income of farmers in Germany has increased dramatically in recent years. Inflation led to higher prices for supermarket customers, while production costs rose less sharply. In 2022, an agricultural sector worker in Germany earned an average of PLN 43,000. euro.

However, farmers’ incomes vary greatly across the European Union. For example, in Spain or Romania they are much lower. The incomes of farmers in the Netherlands, who are also protesting, are much higher.

Subsidies for agriculture

Agriculture costs a lot for the European Union. Agricultural policy is at the heart of the Union. Since 1962, decisions in the agricultural sector have been taken jointly by Member States. The largest part of the common budget, around one third, is allocated to subsidies for farmers and rural development. Although agriculture accounts for only 1.6 percent economic production in the EU, receives around a quarter of all subsidies from the regular budget. In 2022, EUR 243 billion of subsidies were pumped into all sectors of the economy. EUR 57 billion went to farms.

High subsidies keep food prices in the EU relatively low and stable. If farmers were to pass on their real production costs to customers without subsidies, prices would rise sharply and fluctuate widely, depending on the success of the harvest. Preventing this has been and is the declared goal of EU agricultural policy. However, the instruments are changing: 40 years ago, the European Commission itself purchased butter and milk to keep prices stable. Today, farmers receive subsidies for each cultivated hectare of land, as well as subsidies for ecological programs, nature conservation and fallowing. In 2027, the current system of the “Common Agricultural Policy” is to be re-evaluated.