| Speaking at a COPA conference in Brussels on a Fairer and Stable Income for Farmers, IFA President John Bryan said that a well-funded CAP post-2013 and EU regulation to secure more equity for farmers in the food supply chain are critical to providing a fairer income for farmers. He said, “The current CAP payments have proven to be essential in maintaining modest farm family incomes and assisting them with to deal with extreme volatility in a more open global market. The EU Commission and the EU Parliament have a huge responsibility to ensure that Europe’s most successful economic policy - the Common Agriculture Policy - is properly funded and directed at active farmers post 2013.” Mr Bryan said a central plank in securing a sustainable income for farmers is regulation of the retail sector to secure equity for primary producers in the food supply chain. “Even with a well-funded CAP, farm incomes in real terms have dropped by over one-third in the last decade. Retail multiples are taking more and more profit from the food supply chain, as evidenced again by Tesco’s announcement today of a massive increase in profits.” He said EU regulation is overdue and a rebalancing of the share out of the consumer spend on food has to be a priority within the European Union. |
Saturday, 09 October 2010 10:00