EU nations get agrifood leg-up

The European Commission has put major funding resources behind the promotion of agrifood products. It has agreed a budget for 2020 of 200 million euro to promote food and agricultural products in Europe and overseas. This underlines the scale of competition the EU-27 will pose for the UK after Brexit.

The funding is for 81 campaigns, and the promotional banner will be “Enjoy...it’s from Europe”.

Funding support levels will range from 70%-85% and programmes have been approved in 19 member states. Of the 81 campaigns, 55 will target countries outside the EU, including Brazil, China, Canada, Mexico and India. These are also countries on the UK’S list for early trade deals.

The EU farm commissioner, Phil Hogan, said the programmes would build on European products being recognised globally for their ‘quality and authenticity’. The budget for 2020, with a commitment for two further years, represents a significant increase on current spending levels on promotion.

A European Commission-funded report on producer organisations has concluded that they strengthen the position of farmers in the supply chain.

The report looked at organisations ranging from informal groups to big co-operatives. It concluded that these were biggest in France, Germany and Spain and most used and successful in the fruit and vegetable sectors.

It also said that in these countries there was evidence that the groups improved the position of farmers. It said the groups boosted farmers’ supply chain strength and helped them become more globally competitive. It said farmers involved in producer organisations achieved better market penetration and were more successful when it came to innovation.

Meanwhile the European parliament has called for assurances that the UK will continue to receive research funds through the Horizon 2020 programme after Brexit, provided it keeps paying into the scheme’s budget. It would, however, be a third country user without the full benefits of being an EU member state.

Back in Britain, Boris Johnson is like someone playing chess whose every move still leaves him in check.

The danger for farmers in an early election is that it would automatically end the guarantee that payments equivalent to those under the CAP would continue until 2022 as this commitment was only for the lifetime of this parliament and will lapse unless it is written into party manifestos.

This may be prove difficult to secure for the farming lobby.

UK growers could face tough trade competition from EU countries post-brexit.