Farmers are very concerned about their future

The wave of unrest is widespread. At the Paris Agriculture Show, where they were almost a thousand, French farmers spoke of their "worries about the future" into the microphones of the reporters there to collect their testimonies.

The general context is indeed tense: widespread and persistent volatility in the prices of agricultural raw materials, soaring grain prices that affect the cash-flow of meat producers, the emergence of new producing powers and the planned reform of the CAP that maintains the logic of deregulation initiated in 2005.

It is not only French farmers who speak of unease. The feeling seemed to be shared in Spain, when in unison with the Union of Farmers of Castile and Leon (UCCL) thousands of farmers marched through the streets of Valladolid on 19th February. Their goal was to denounce the crisis in the sector, to claim "fair prices" and public aide. "Throughout Spain, livestock farming is suffering from the crisis", the union spokesman told the AFP (French press agency).

This situation shows that most European farmers are facing the same problem: price volatility in international agricultural markets. And the situation is not going to get better because the context will probably become more restrained over the coming months as the U.S. experts from the APAC (Agricultural Policy Analysis Center) rightly point out in an article that we are publishing this week 1.

1 See momagri article of /02/11