For agriculture, this fall is going to be a busy one. While thousands of European dairy farmers threaten to strike in response to the crisis that has been lingering on for close to a year now, it is now the pork industry’s turn to sound the alarm.
The plummeting pork prices recorded since July––following the industry’s two-year crisis––are leading its executives to fear the occurrence of hundreds of bankruptcies during the coming months. “Between 10 and 20 percent of producers could shut down in the up-coming months,” indicates Paul Auffrey, in charge of the Pork Division at the FNSEA––the French National Farmers’ Union.
The fruit and vegetables sector is not to be outdone: Confronted with a continued drop in growers’ income since the beginning of the year (an average 20 percent decrease over 2008), it must now cope with Brussels’ demand for the reimbursement of €500 million in subsidies granted to growers’ organizations over the past several years, that turned out to be in breach of competition regulations.
This fall thus promises to be particularly busy and political decision-makers can no longer cut corners and put these issues off till later. The need for structural answers prevails and the September 7 meeting of European Agriculture Ministers should promptly set the tone for political directions… |