A new vision for agriculture
momagri, movement for a world agricultural organization, is a think tank chaired by Pierre Pagesse, President
of Limagrain. It brings together, managers from the agricultural world and important people from external
perspectives, such as health, development, strategy and defense. Its objective is to promote regulation
of agricultural markets by creating new evaluation tools, such as economic models and indicators,
and by drawing up proposals for an agricultural and international food policy.
Focus on issues

The EU imports the equivalent of a third of its farmland



By momagri Editorial Board



While the race to purchase farmland has been unleashed, the European Union is also involved in its own way––not through direct acquisitions, but through increased importations of foodstuff produced in non-EU land.

In fact, a recent study1 presented by the Italian think tank Opera2shows that the EU currently relies on external agricultural resources, For the past ten years, it has doubled imports to reach the equivalent of what 35 percent of “virtual agricultural land” would produce.

This slippage addresses the basic issue of Europe’s food security.
    • The research figures are indeed revealing. In 2007/08, the EU trade gap for all types of commodities was equal to the production of 35 million hectares (86.5 million acres) of farmland. The report published by the Opera think tank translates this equivalence in terms of imports called “virtual land”.

    This considerable volume represents 35 percent of Europe’s utilized agricultural area, i.e. the total area of Germany. Another troublesome fact is the rapid increase of “virtual land” imports (an additional 9.6 million hectares, or close to 24 million acres) between 1999 and 2008.

    Which are the commodities concerned by “virtual land” imports? Soybeans (plus 3.7 million hectares or 9 million acres), as well as wheat and corn.

    What grounds for this development? The CAP reform, Europe’s concessions to the WTO and, last but not least, the rise of the euro against the dollar during the time considered.

    More generally, European importations grew by 24 percent to 132 million tons in 2008, from 107 million in 2000.

    We do observe a meaningful figure: Wheat imports rose by 84.8 percent while exports barely grew by 3.7 percent.

    And an unfortunate foreseeable occurrence: The 2006 reform generated a drop of close to 70 percent in sugar exports and an increase of more than 10 percent in imports, making the EU a net importer.

    This is the reason why the European balance of agricultural trade became negative.

    • The authors of the study also outline that, faced with the projected twofold increase of global food demand by 2050 and because of the rapid importation growth, the EU must improve its agricultural yields.

    All the more so since global food needs can only be met if developed countries produce and export more agricultural goods, since developing nations are currently far from self-sufficiency.

    The study shows, in conclusion, that the EU food security is increasingly fragile, thus supporting momagri’s theory, which calls for European leaders to include it as a priority in their strategic views for the up-coming CAP reform.
1 ”EU agricultural production and trade: Can more efficiency prevent increasing land-grabbing outside of Europe?”
2 http://www.opera-indicators.eu/eng/info/news.html
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Paris, 24 May 2012