Europe

How Farmer Protests Across Europe Played a Role in the Recent EU Elections

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 20:59:23 GMT

Farmer protests across Europe are heating up again leading up to the elections in Europe, and the outcome of the European Parliament elections over the weekend sent a clear message. One agricultural economist says it’s not just frustrations from farmers that fueled the election results. It’s also EU voters who are worried about the cost of environmental reforms.

The issue has been brewing for the past year, with farmer protests showing the frustration.

“Things have been slowly coming to the boil over the last 12 months or so. But really, the origins of all this are traceable back to when the last European Commission came into place, which was in 2019,” says Trevor Donnellan, who is the head of economics at the Rural Economy Research Centre based in Ireland.

After the 2019 election, and the Green Party become more dominant, the push to fast-track climate policies and regulation was swift.

“European environmental policy around agriculture is significant. That’s the first thing people in the us need to understand, and it is becoming more significant,” he says. Regulation around things like greenhouse gas emissions is becoming an issue regulation around water quality, the usage of fertilizers, what we do with animal waste, these are all becoming more serious issues.”

Related Story: Why Farmers Are Protesting In Europe

In Donnellan’s own country of Ireland, agriculture is required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2030. He says for a country that has a large dairy and beef production footprint, that could require farmers to reduce their herd size to reach such a lofty goal.

In the Netherlands, environmental policy has already forced livestock producers to get rid of animals, even pushing some farmers out of business.

Those increased regulations are what propelled farmer protests over the past year. The scene drew international attention with farmers using tractors to block traffic on major highways across Europe, to even protesting outside the parliament, and it’s those protests that sent a loud message ahead of the elections.

“The protests, I think, have been significant in making politicians and the general public aware of the importance of taking into account the farmer perspective in setting all these regulations,” says Donnellan.

Related Story: Exploring the Root Causes of Global Farmer Protests Against Ag Policies

That message was apparently on the minds of voters this past weekend as the 27-nation bloc’s parliament membership shifted to the right. The surge by Nationalist and Populist parties will make it much harder for the assembly to approve legislation on issues ranging from climate change to agriculture policy.

“When we look at it in terms of what it might mean, for agriculture, the kind of political perspective in this new parliament has moved a little bit further to the right, which probably is a little bit more aligned with the interests of farmers. And farming is very important. In the context of the European Union, it’s one of the reasons why the European Union was created in the first place,” Donnellan explains.

He says that could mean less of an emphasis on green issues than what the EU has seen dominate policy the past 5 year.

“Looking at it from an agricultural point of view, it could mean that the pace of change in terms of pushing the environmental regulation could maybe slow down a little bit, or there might be a little bit of a rethink on some aspects of it. But it’s probably a parliament that might be a little bit more sympathetic to the concerns of farmers than the one that has just come to an end,” he adds.

Related Story: Will Europe’s Farmer Protests Make Their Way To The U.S.?

While it’s not clear exactly what will happen with EU climate policy in the years ahead, Donnellan says what’s happening in Europe is setting an example for the rest of the world.

“That might sound a little bit grand, but that’s kind of the thinking behind this politically in that Europe will demonstrate to the rest of the world what’s achievable in terms of having an more environmentally compliant economy, including in agriculture, and that the rest of the world should potentially follow suit from a policy perspective in the future,” he says.

EU Approval of NGTs Will Be a Vote in Favor of Sound Science

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 20:44:55 GMT

By Marco Pasti: Eraclea VE, Italy

The European Parliament has decided to give technology a chance—and that’s good news for farmers like me, as we struggle to grow food in a time of climate change.

Members voted last month to embrace the new science of plant breeding. They approved a measure that means many crops produced through New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) could be treated under the law similar to conventional plants.

This is a vote in favor of sound science—and possibly a major break from the mistakes of the past when Europeans treated crop innovation with skepticism and even fear.

The decision holds the potential to help me grow more food and better food. Yet it’s only a first step. Political leaders, regulators, and the broader public must continue to make sensible choices about NGTs.

On my farm near Venice, I grow a variety of crops: corn, soybeans, wheat, and more. Just now, as we prepare for the spring, we’re pruning our walnuts and wine grapes and preparing our seed beds for sugar beets.

We strive for efficiency and sustainability, especially as we adapt to a changing and unpredictable climate. Our goal every year is to grow as much as possible, so that we can make a living as farmers and consumers can enjoy safe, genuine, affordable, and abundant food.

Yet rules and regulations have limited our access to the best technologies. When Europe restricted GMOs a generation ago, it removed our ability to plant crops that would help us boost our yields even as they reduced our reliance on inputs such as herbicides and pesticides. We fell behind our fellow farmers in North and South America and elsewhere.

Our corn harvests, for example, have declined. For at least two decades, we’ve grown 10 to 30 percent less food each year than the latest crop technologies otherwise would have allowed. To make matters worse, the quality of our food has suffered because our crops are less able to fight disease. We’re getting lower prices for what we do produce.

It’s impossible to calculate the losses with precision, but Italian consumers have spent billions of Euros more for their food than was necessary. Italy used to be self-sufficient for corn, but last year we imported 7 million tons of it.

This is not just an Italian problem, of course. The refusal to accept safe technologies has hurt consumers and farmers across Europe.

Farmers in France, Germany, and the Netherlands recently have engaged in massive protests, as they block roads and drive tractors into city centers. Most of the news coverage has focused on their concerns about taxes and regulations, but it has missed the larger story: This is ultimately about poor competitiveness, with its roots in the EU’s rejection of modern, science-based agricultural technology.

The European Parliament now has offered us a lifeline. Its vote last month accepted the recommendation of scientists and regulators and the Commission’s approval, making a little but significant step to exit the almost total eclipse of modern genetic tools in the EU farm sector.

The potential acceptance of NGTs means that in the near future on my farm, I’ll have a better chance to grow crops that can withstand the stress of climate change, such as droughts, floods, and storms, as well as pressure from disease, weeds, and pests.

I’ll grow more food and better food, using some of the best science and technology in the world.

That’s my hope, but nothing is assured. Last month’s vote is only a single step in a long march. The Commission proposal now needs to be adopted by the Council of the member states that did not yet reach an agreement. The details of the final law will continue to be discussed—and NGTs have lots of enemies, including ideological groups such as Greenpeace. Their propaganda once turned Europe against GMOs, to the detriment of everyone. The good news today is that scientists have decided not to stay silent and have started campaigning in favor of NGT plants.

Too much of this debate in fact has focused on techniques used and how NGTs are made, rather than on how they will create crops with better characteristics. I think farmers would be in better shape, the environment would be in better shape, consumers would be in better shape, and the research programs that have been shut down because of the impossibility of doing necessary field trials and commercialization of the final product outcomes would be in better shape.

We don’t have unlimited time to improve production in a world with a growing population and facing climate change.

Farmers must speak up: The time has come to give technology a chance.

Marco Aurelio Pasti grows corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, sugar beets, potatoes, some wine grapes and walnuts. They also breed beef cattle and have a biogas plant for electricity production in the north-eastern part of Italy along the Adriatic coast. Marco is a member of the Global Farmer Network. This column originates at www.globalfarmernetwork.org

Why Farmers Are Protesting In Europe

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 21:08:22 GMT

Farmers are protesting across the European Union, saying they are facing rising costs and taxes, red tape, excessive environmental rules and competition from cheap food imports. Demonstrations have been taking place for weeks in countries including France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy and Greece.

While many issues are country-specific, others are Europe-wide. Here is a detailed look at the problems that have prompted the protest movement across the bloc and in individual countries.

IMPORTS

Demonstrations in eastern Europe have focused on what farmers say is unfair competition from large amounts of imports from Ukraine, for which the EU has waived quotas and duties since Russia’s invasion. Polish farmers have been blocking traffic at the border with Ukraine, which Kyiv says is affecting its defense capability and helping Russia’s aims. Meanwhile, Czech farmers have driven their tractors into downtown Prague, disrupting traffic outside the farm ministry.

The farmers resent the imports because they say they put pressure on European prices while not meeting environmental standards imposed on EU farmers. Renewed negotiations to conclude a trade deal between the EU and South American bloc Mercosur have also fanned discontent about unfair competition in sugar, grain and meat.

RULES AND BUREAUCRACY

Farmers take issue with excessive regulation, mainly at EU level. Centre stage are new EU subsidy rules, such as a requirement to leave 4% of farmland fallow, which means not using it for a period of time.

They also denounce bureaucracy, which French farmers say their government compounds by over-complicating implementation.

In Spain, farmers have complained of “suffocating bureaucracy” drawn up in Brussels that erodes the profitability of crops.

In Greece, farmers demand higher subsidies and faster compensation for crop damage and livestock lost in 2023 floods.

RISING DIESEL FUEL COSTS

In Germany and France, the EU’s biggest agricultural producers, farmers have railed against plans to end subsidies or tax breaks on agricultural diesel. Greek farmers want a tax on diesel to be reduced.

In Romania, protests in mid-January were mainly against the high cost of diesel.

In France, many producers say a government drive to bring down food inflation has left them unable to cover high costs for energy, fertilizer and transport.

WHAT ARE GOVERNMENTS DOING?

The European Commission late last month proposed to limit agricultural imports from Ukraine by introducing an “emergency brake” for the most sensitive products - poultry, eggs and sugar - but producers say the volume would still be too high. The Commission has also exempted EU farmers for 2024 from the requirement to keep some of their land fallow while still receiving EU farm support payments, but they would need to instead grow crops without applying pesticides.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced measures including controls to insure imported foods do not have traces of pesticides banned in France or the EU, and talks to get farmers higher prices and loosen bureaucracy and regulation.

Paris and Berlin have both relented to the pressure and rowed back on plans to end subsidies or tax breaks on agricultural diesel. In Romania, the government has acted to increase diesel subsidies, address insurance rates and expedite subsidy payments.

In Portugal, the caretaker government has announced an emergency aid package worth 500 million euros, including 200 million euros to mitigate the impact of a long-running drought.

WHY FARMERS ARE PROTESTING, BY COUNTRY:

FRANCE

- EU red tape

- Diesel prices

- Need more support to shore up incomes

- Access to irrigation

- Criticism over animal welfare and use of pesticides

POLAND

- Cheap imports from Ukraine

- EU regulation

CZECH REPUBLIC

- Bureaucracy

- Cheap imports

- EU farm policy

SPAIN

- “Suffocating bureaucracy” drawn up in Brussels that they say erodes the profitability of crops

- Trade deals that they say open the door to cheap imports

PORTUGAL

- Insufficient state aid, subsidy cuts

- Red tape

ROMANIA

- Cost of diesel

- Insurance rates

- EU environmental regulations

- Cheap imports from Ukraine

BELGIUM

- EU requirement to leave 4% of land fallow

- Cheap imports

- Subsidies favoring larger farms

GREECE

- Demands for higher subsidies and faster compensation for crop damage and livestock lost in 2023 floods

- Diesel tax and surging electricity bills

- Falling state and EU subsidies

(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Gus Trompiz; Editing by Crystal Chesters)

EU Seeks Revised GMO Rules to Loosen Curbs on Gene-Edited Crops

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:38:16 GMT

The European Commission proposed revising its rules on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on Wednesday to loosen some restrictions for plants resulting from newer gene-editing technology.

The EU executive said the move would give farmers more resilient crops and reduce the use of chemical pesticides and offer consumers food with higher nutritional value.

The Commission launched a review in 2021 after concluding that GMO legislation from 2001 was “not fit for purpose”. The EU’s top court had ruled in 2018 that genome-editing techniques should be governed by GMO rules.

On Wednesday the Commission proposed splitting new genomic technique (NGT) plants into two categories.

Those that could also occur naturally or by conventional breeding would be exempted from GMO legislation and labelling
requirements. All other NGT plants would be treated as GMOs, requiring risk assessments and authorization.

Plants will qualify for the first category if there are no more than 20 genetic modifications.

A faster track approval process would apply for the second category of plants if, for example, they are more tolerant to climate change or require less water or fertilizer.

Related Story: John Phipps: The New Technology Helping Cool the GMO Debate

The proposal needs approval from the European Parliament and EU governments and may be revised.

The most prominent example of the new technology is the CRISPR/Cas9 “genome scissors”, for which Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Bayer, the world’s second-largest seeds and pesticides maker, described the proposal as “ground-breaking”.

“Plant breeding normally takes more than a decade from the first positive research results to market entry. Gene editing allows us to cut five years out of this process,” said Bayer’s head of sustainability Matthias Berninger.

Biotech industry group EuropaBio urged an extension of the rules to cover micro-organisms.

Environmental groups say NGT plants need careful controls and the proposal risks making European farming dependent on large agribusiness companies.

Friends of the Earth campaigner Mute Schimpf said it was essential labelling requirements remain so that consumers could make informed choices. The need to label has effectively prevented sales of GM food items to EU consumers.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; additional reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; editing by Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)

Mission Nearly Complete: Ukraine's 1st Grain Shipment Clears Inspection

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 14:09:53 GMT

The first shipment of grain from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February is one step closer to reaching its final destination of Lebanon. According to Reuters , the United Nations said the shipment of over 26,000 tons of corn was cleared to proceed on Wednesday.

The Razoni vessel can now proceed through the Bosphorus Strait, an internationally significant waterway located in northwestern Turkey. The ship was inspected by officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN. Reuters reports a three-hour inspection conducted be a team confirmed the crew and cargo were authorized to proceed.

As reported by AgWeb earlier this week, the Razoni, which weighed anchor at the port of Odesa, was led by a government vessel through mines that had been laid by Ukrainian forces to forestall any attempt by Moscow to launch an amphibious assault on Odesa. It’s part of a grain deal brokered by Turkey to help address the world’s grain and food supply concerns.

A rescue ship followed and Russia’s Navy, which controls the Black Sea, granted safe passage. The Razoni was carrying 26,527 metric tons of corn, the United Nations said. The vessel had been stuck in port since Feb. 18, before the start of the war.

Related News: Russia Hits Southern Ukraine City, Killing Owner of One of the Country’s Largest Grain Exporting Companies

The shipment news came just a day after Ukraine confirmed Oleksiy Vadatursky, Ukraine grain tycoon, was killed in Russian shelling of Mykolaiv. He was killed with his wife in a “massive” Russian shelling of the southern city of Mykolaiv. They died when a missile hit their home overnight, local officials said.

Reports say there are 16 more ships waiting to leave Odesa in coming days. Ukraine’s agriculture minister, Mykola Solskyi, said last week that there was $10 billion worth of grain stored in Ukraine and that the incoming harvest would add a further $20 billion to that amount.

Zelenskiy Says Shipment is Fraction of Needed Exports

According to Reuters, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy is still casting doubt on how much grain can actually be exported. He made the comments during a video to college students in Australia on Wednesday.

Reuters reports Zelenskiy says the first shipment is carrying a faction of the crop Kyiv should promote to salvage the hurting economy. He says Ukraine needs to export a minimal 10 million tonnes of grain to urgently assist deliver down its price range deficit which was operating at $5 billion a month.

“Only recently, because of the UN in partnership with Turkey, we had a primary ship with the supply of grain, nevertheless it’s nonetheless nothing. However we hope it’s an inclination that may proceed,” said Zelenskiy according to Reuters.

John Phipps: Is the Outrage By Dutch Farmers Now Being Heard by the World Enough to Prevent Policy Changes?

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 22:15:26 GMT

As if record-breaking heat wasn’t enough to trigger tempers, Europe and especially the Netherlands have been dealing with an increasingly incendiary political situation pitting the country’s farmers against EU government plans to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030.

The major target is nitrous oxides, of which agriculture contributes about half. But Dutch farmers, who are an ag exporting power behind only the U.S., contend the efforts will force many producers out of business – perhaps as many as 30 percent. This may be conservative.

Protests, which began three years ago, have intensified with tractor blockades of major roads and city centers. In addition, farmers are demanding more positive media coverage, and predictably, more government aid.

Related news: Dutch Farmers Are Protesting A Government Policy Canada and Ireland are Now Proposing, Is The U.S. Next?

They also are pointing fingers of blame at other EU countries and companies like Shell and Tata Steel. Unusual for Europe, a few shots have been fired by police at protestors, but most demonstrations were relatively orderly, if angry. All this resentment and outrage by farmers faces two formidable hurdles to resolution.

The first is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) whose large subsidies to agriculture has made them economically dependent. Now the series of heat waves which have been scorching the continent with growing frequency over the last two decades, is setting all-time records this summer across Europe.

With environmental political parties in the Greens possessing considerable clout, and not enough air-conditioning, public opinion has not been overwhelmingly sympathetic to farmers. Dutch farmers are noted for their professional and business skill, but due to their intense management, the carrying capacity for livestock like dairy cows in their country has likely been met or even exceeded. It’s why you see Dutch emigres operating all over the world, including the U.S.

While the Dutch protests have attracted the most attention, the EU emissions proposals threaten farmers across the bloc. Given the economics and politics of this debate, however, a difficult transition for producers seems inevitable.

Deal to resume to Ukraine Black Sea grain exports to be signed Friday - Turkey

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 21:12:17 GMT

By Jonathan Spicer and Michelle Nichols

ISTANBUL/UNITED NATIONS, July 21 (Reuters) - Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will sign a deal on Friday to resume Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s office said on Thursday.

Russia and Ukraine are both major global wheat suppliers, but Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbor has sent food prices soaring and stoked an international food crisis. The war has stalled Kyiv’s exports, leaving dozens of ships stranded and some 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos at Odesa port.

Ankara said a general agreement was reached on a U.N.-led plan during talks in Istanbul last week and that it would now be put in writing by the parties. Details of the agreement were not immediately known. It is due to be signed on Friday at the Dolmabahce Palace offices at 1330 GMT, Erdogan’s office said.

There was no immediate confirmation of the deal from Moscow or Kyiv.

Before last week’s talks, diplomats said details of the plan included Ukrainian vessels guiding grain ships in and out through mined port waters; Russia agreeing to a truce while shipments move; and Turkey - supported by the United Nations - inspecting ships to allay Russian fears of weapons smuggling.

The United States welcomed the deal and said it was focusing on holding Russia accountable for implementing it.

“We should never have been in this position in the first place,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. “This was a deliberate decision on the part of the Russian Federation to weaponise food.”

The United Nations and Turkey have been working for two months to broker what Guterres called a “package” deal - to resume Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports and facilitate Russian grain and fertilizer shipments.

Ukraine could potentially quickly restart exports, Ukraine’s Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskiy said earlier on Thursday.

“The majority of the infrastructure of ports of wider Odesa - there are three of them - remains, so it is a question of several weeks in the event there are proper security guarantees,” he told Ukranian television.

Moscow has denied responsibility for worsening the food crisis, blaming instead a chilling effect from Western sanctions for slowing its own food and fertilizer exports and Ukraine for mining its Black Sea ports.

A day after the Istanbul talks last week, the United States sought to facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports by reassuring banks, shipping and insurance companies that such transactions would not breach Washington’s sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; additional reporting by Natalia Zinets in Kyiv, Yesim Dikmen in Istanbul and Simon Lewis in Washington; editing by Susan Heavey and Jonathan Oatis)

European Organic Farming Company ‘Thinks Outside the Box’ with Biomethane Tractor

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 16:33:43 GMT

An organic food producer in Europe taking the machinery world by surprise, unveiling the world’s first hybrid bio-methane and electric tractor.

Auga says its M1 tractor can replace a 400 horsepower diesel tractor and run for up to 12 hours thanks to larger, quick-change bio-methane gas cartridges.

As its CEO says, the company took on a project three years ago to focus on sustainability and was ‘shocked’ to see its CO2 emissions total.

Auga is a Lithuanian-based company that manages more than 96,000 acres of organic farming including crops, dairy cows, chickens and mushroom growing. The company employs more than 1,200 people.

“Our mission is to bring technology to farmers and create a new carbon value chain, deliver consumers food with no cost to nature, and by consuming the foot people will be making a positive impact on climate change every day,” says company CEO Kęstutis Juščiu. “We will produce a model for food production at no cost to nature.”

He says the company recognized that it needed to “think outside of the box” to bring new ways to address its emissions and carbon footprint.

To develop a zero-emission tractor, the company focused on using replaceable biomethane cartridges. The M1 tractor is powered by a hybrid gas and electric motor with a biomethane internal combustion engine generating energy and transferring it directly to electric motors that spin the wheels.

Jusciu explains the design of the tractor allows it to weigh one-third less than a conventional tractor, which will help reduce soil compaction. The engineering also allows the tractor to tow heavy implements at a lower energy consumption.

He says this is just one step in the company’s journey with more news to come in the next year specific to livestock.

You can watch the unveiling of the M1 tractor here:

Pro Farmer's Monday Morning Wake Up Call

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 04:14:47 GMT

After building optimism European leaders had reached a deal to address the region’s financial troubles, there is now growing concern the plan is not aggressive enough to ease the debt crisis. As a result, investors have pushed the U.S. dollar sharply higher and removed risk. This, in turn, is putting pressure on commodities, including the grain markets. Check this link to hear the “Monday Morning Wake Up Call” provided by your Pro Farmer Editors.

If you would like to receive this message on your phone, go to this link to sign up.

Japan, EU Draw Closer With Trade Pact

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 04:50:26 GMT

(Bloomberg) --

Japan and the European Union signed a trade agreement on Tuesday in Tokyo that lowers barriers on the movement of goods and services between the two economies and provides a counterweight to U.S. protectionism.

The Economic Partnership Agreement will remove a wide range of duties and regulatory obstacles between the EU and Japan, helping Japanese car exports and making it easier for European farmers to sell their produce in the Asian nation. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk signed the pact.

The deal, which had been under negotiation since 2013, was to have been signed in Europe earlier this month, but Abe was forced to cancel his trip after severe flooding and landslides in Japan claimed the lives of more than 200 people.

Europe and Japan are rallying to bolster multilateral agreements as U.S. President Donald Trump shuns such pacts and imposes tariffs on trading partners. Japan took a leadership role in preserving an 11-member Trans-Pacific deal after Trump pulled the U.S. out immediately after taking office. The EU is joining with Asia’s biggest economies to defend the global trading system from attacks by Trump, who over the weekend suggested the 28-member bloc was the U.S.’s biggest foe globally.

“We underline the crucial role of the rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core and continue to fight protectionism,” Japan and the EU said in a joint statement issued in Tokyo on Tuesday. “In giving full effect to this agreement, Japan and the EU are sending a powerful message to promote free, fair and rules-based trade, and against protectionism.”

Separately in Beijing on Monday, the EU agreed with China on a joint summit statement for the first time in three years as they sought to set aside differences and show support for a multilateral approach to solving world problems. Meanwhile, Japan is also in talks with China, India and other Asian countries to create the 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which could become the world’s largest trading bloc.

Japan’s Existing and Potential Trade Pacts

The Japan-EU trade agreement is expected to boost Japan’s economy by about 1 percent, or 5 trillion yen ($44 billion), and add roughly 290,000 jobs in the nation, according to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A 10 percent import duty on cars from Japan will be phased out over the course of eight years after the deal takes effect, the ministry said. That contrasts with the possibility that the U.S. president invokes national security risks to impose 25 percent tariffs on Japanese car imports.

European exporters to Japan will see the vast majority of 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) of duties they pay annually removed, benefiting producers of cheese, wine, beef and pork, according to the European Commission.

The aim is for the deal, which will be the EU’s biggest-ever commercial agreement, to take effect by late 2019. It is awaiting approval by EU governments and by the European Parliament, which is likely later this year. Japan’s parliament also needs to approve it.

The EU has acted against U.S. duties on foreign metals, imposing tit-for-tat tariffs in June on 2.8 billion euros of imports of American goods ranging from motorcycles to orange juice. It has complained to the World Trade Organization, and it is seen ready to retaliate should the U.S. hike tariffs on cars.

Europe is also mulling some measures to appease Trump. The European Commission has proposed ways to address U.S. concerns over the functioning of the WTO, according to an internal memo drafted by the EU’s executive arm and seen by Bloomberg.

The commission offered several ways to fix the WTO dispute system, including increasing the number of appellate body members from seven to nine, and respond to U.S. concerns that the panel has overstepped its mandate.

Read more: Europe warns of unwavering response to protectionism.

Japan has stopped short of retaliating against the U.S., but notified the WTO in May that it reserves the right to impose tariffs on up to 50 billion yen worth of U.S. goods in response to U.S. metal tariffs.

On Tuesday, Japan and the EU also signed a strategic partnership agreement that will reinforce cooperation in fields including security, cyber crime and climate change.

Copyright 2018, Bloomberg

Record French Wheat Crop Adds to Global Glut as Grain Piles Up

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 03:38:36 GMT

(Bloomberg) -- This year’s French wheat crop is shaping up to be a bin-buster.

France, the European Union’s largest grower, will produce a record 40.4 million metric tons of soft wheat, almost 8 percent more than last year, according to crops office FranceAgriMer. Hot, dry weather in June will also raise the quality of wheat, Paris-based farm adviser Agritel said.

The bumper French crop will add to ample world supplies, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicting stockpiles will climb to a record. The French harvest was 99 percent complete as of last week, and silo operators Senalia and Socomac both said this month they were halting wheat intake because bins are filling up.

“Ports are really overwhelmed with wheat and people need to export,” Caroline Bitton, an analyst at Agritel in Paris, said by phone on Monday. “France could see a very dynamic export pace this year.”

Milling wheat futures in Paris, the European benchmark, slid as much as 1.1 percent on Monday to 179.25 euros a ton on Euronext, the lowest in two months. The commodity has declined 11 percent this year.

Wheat production in France is expanding after farmers harvested the most acres on record since 1936, while yields are about 4 percent larger than average, Bitton said. While farmers harvested 37.5 million tons last year, just shy of the prior record set in 1998, poor grain quality hurt exports, she said.

While French output climbs, production at the EU level probably will be smaller this season. The European Commission predicts a harvest of 139.4 million tons, 6.3 percent less than last year. Germany, the EU’s second-biggest wheat grower, will harvest a smaller crop, as will the U.K., Poland, Romania and Spain, according to Brussels-based farm lobby Coceral.

To contact the reporter on this story: Whitney McFerron in London at wmcferron1@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net Tony Barrett, Amanda Jordan

Egypt Says No to U.S. Wheat, Even with $100 Million Credit Line

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 03:37:39 GMT

Not even a $100 million credit line could entice the world’s biggest wheat buyer to purchase U.S. supplies.

Egypt, which got the U.S. loan agreement, canceled a tender to buy American wheat Wednesday because the prices were too expensive and then asked for offers from other international suppliers. The failed sale shows how unattractive U.S. grain is to buyers with the dollar near the highest level in more than a decade and ample global inventories.

Buyers are instead choosing European wheat as the weakening currency and cheap shipping costs make grain from France and Romania more competitive. Wheat from the region to North Africa costs about $50 a metric ton less than U.S. supplies, based on data from the International Grains Council that includes freight charges as of Feb. 10.

“U.S. wheat is really too expensive compared to what Egypt can buy in Europe,” Manon Leygue, analyst at ODA U.K., a unit of French farm adviser Offre et Demande Agricole, said by phone from Bartlow, England. “French wheat will be easier to buy from Egypt, because in France there is still a big amount to export.”

U.S. wheat futures fell 21 percent since Dec. 18. Futures were little changed at $5.23 a bushel at 7:29 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Milling wheat in Paris added 0.5 percent to 188.50 euros ($214.46) a ton on Euronext.

Wheat Shipments

U.S. exporters have sold 20.7 million tons of wheat since the marketing year began June 1, 24 percent less than the same time last season, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Japan and Mexico have been the biggest buyers.

Export commitments to Egypt, which include private sales done outside the state-run General Authority for Supply Commodities, stand at 96,300 tons, down from 223,100 tons at this time last year. The country hasn’t purchased any U.S. wheat though its state-run tender system in the past five months.

The U.S. grain prices offered Wednesday by companies including Cargill Inc. and Bunge Ltd. were “much higher than world prices,” said Mamdouh Abdel Fattah, vice chairman of GASC.

After rejecting the tender, GASC said it would hold another bid seeking at least 60,000 tons of wheat for shipment between March 15 and 25. It received offers of supplies from France, Romania, Ukraine and the U.S., according to two traders involved who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to media. The U.S. wheat from Louis Dreyfus and InVivo was the most expensive, the trader offers showed.

France, Romania

There’s no time limit for the $100 million credit line from the U.S. to buy American wheat, Supply Minister Khalid Hanafy said earlier this month.

France has been the biggest supplier to GASC tenders in recent months, with sales to Egypt of 840,000 tons since December, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Romania sold 300,000 tons in that time, while Russia and Ukraine provided smaller quantities

With European prices so cheap, shipments are surging. The EU issued export licenses for 1.67 million tons of wheat in the week through Feb. 3, the highest in data going back to July 2004. The total fell to 626,032 tons in the following week.

“We see very high export figures over the last few weeks,” Klaus Lutz, the chief executive officer of Munich-based trader BayWa AG, said by e-mail. “There is a very positive situation in the international grain market for EU exports.”

Russia, the world’s fourth-biggest wheat exporter, has clamped down on overseas wheat sales as the country struggles with a looming recession and food inflation accelerating at the fastest pace in six years. The country started taxing wheat exports this month and shipments plunged 97 percent in the seven days to Feb. 11, compared with the previous week, as the charges began to take effect.

“Buyers are going to be a little bit reluctant to go to the Black Sea region and the U.S. is not really price competitive,” Amy Reynolds, a senior economist at the IGC in London, said by phone Friday. “The EU at the moment is certainly the origin of choice.”

Progress Reported on Several Trade Fronts

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 20:59:06 GMT

There is trade talk movement on several fronts right now:

China

President Trump is reiterating that progress is being made toward a comprehensive trade deal with China. He is emphasizing that it will help farmers and ranchers. He talked about the negotiations during a roundtable discussion on the economy in Burnsville, Minnesota this week.

President Trump saying, “The farmers have not been treated well for fifteen years. You can go back and it’s just a graph downward. Well, we’re changing that. You wait and see what’s gonna happen, so we’ll see if it all works out with China, but we’re doing well in the negotiation. It’s very comprehensive in the sense that it’s a very complete negotiation. We’re talking about theft of intellectual property. We’re talking about so many other things, but we’re also talking about the farmers and the ranchers and people that have not been treated fairly by, really, the world.”

Reuters is reporting negotiations could include lifting a ban on U.S. poultry and buying more pork. However, it’s not likely to ease restrictions on the growth promotant ractopamine.

Iowa State agriculture economists say they expect China to import about $4.6 million tons of pork in 2020.

Japan

Negotiators for both the U.S. and Japan say they conducted talks this week in line with the agreement made between Japan’s Prime Minister and President Trump in September.

The week’s talks focused mostly on goods. The discussions between U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Japan’s Economy Minister were labeled as “good and frank”.

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow was asked about the talks with the Japanese. Kudlow was asked by a reporter about whether the U.S. was looking at separate deals with the Japanese by breaking out agriculture as a temporary fix. Kudlow answered, “Ambassador Lighthizer is walking through that. They’re in the talks. The talks are thick and hot and heavy, and I think that’s terrific. Japan’s a great ally of ours. I don’t want to comment on outcomes or any details. I just think it’s always healthy when we’re talking.”

Japan’s Economic Minister said the discussions were focused on common ground to move the talks forward. Both sides are pledging to accelerate talks between the two nations.

European Union

Negotiators with the European Union have gotten approval to hold trade talks with the United States. E.U. Trade Chief Cecilia Malmström said this week she wants to finalize negotiations before the end of this European Commission, which is in office through October.

Two big hurdles stand in the way: a demand that any negotiation results in the U.S. dropping tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum last year, and that the talks include agriculture. The E.U. is adamant agriculture will not be part of the discussion. U.S. officials say it should.

President Trump also touched on that during his economic roundtable in Minnesota. “If you look at the European Union with the barriers they have to agricultural products and cars and so many other things, but the agricultural products, they barely take our agriculture products and yet they can sell Mercedes Benz and they can sell anything they want in our country, including their farm products, and it’s not fair,” said the President.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said this week it’s likely any deal is rejected by Congress if it doesn’t include agriculture.

The European Green Deal is a Bad Deal

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 00:52:25 GMT

By Marcus Holtkoetter: Altenberge, Germany

The European Commission has a plan to eliminate modern farming in Europe.

The details emerged last month, as part of a “ European Green Deal ” announced late last year that calls for the continent to become “climate neutral” by 2050.

The commission speaks of “turning climate and environmental challenges into opportunities.” It also talks about “making the transition just and inclusive for all.”

It should have added three words: “except for farmers.”

That’s because the EU Commission just released its “ Farm to Fork ” strategy, which is the agricultural portion of the European Green Deal. It announces a series of unrealistic goals: In the next decade, farmers like me are supposed to slash our use of crop-protection products by half, cut our application of fertilizer by 20 percent, and transform a quarter of total farmland into organic production.

None of this, of course, is supposed to disrupt anybody’s dinner.

Europeans are blessed to live in a well-fed society. We have stable governments, reliable infrastructure, and advanced economies. We also have some of the best farmland in the world, with good soil and strong yields, year after year. Through intensive farming, we achieve excellent results—and we don’t face the problems of hunger and malnutrition that plague less fortunate people in other societies.

What the European Commission now proposes, essentially, is smaller harvests. For consumers, this will lead directly to one thing: Higher prices. Food will cost more.

There’s also a deeper problem. How are farmers supposed to make a living when we’re growing fewer crops and selling less food? The commission fails to consider one of the most likely results of its misbegotten approach to agriculture: When farmers can’t turn a profit, they’ll quit farming.

If that happens, the smaller harvests will shrink even further.

This defies what the commission says is its major goal, which is to make “the EU’s economy sustainable.” It needs to understand that there is no such thing as economic sustainability without a sustainable economy.

It also raises the question of where our food will come from, if it doesn’t come from our own farms. We could always import more food from other places. Global trade already is an essential feature of food production. We should encourage more of it.

Yet the European Green Deal will lead to substandard farming in places with less productive farmland. This may help fill bellies in a Europe that has fewer farmers. It may even salve the consciences of activists and bureaucrats in Brussels. It certainly won’t help the climate.

Our goal should be to grow more food on less land. Yet the EU’s present approach, driven by ideology rather than science, will lead to growing less food on more land.

What’s “green” about that?

This is all supposed to happen, by the way, at a time of worldwide population growth. Demographers expect that an additional 2 billion people will inhabit our planet by 2050. We need to feed them, too. Figuring out how to do this over the next 30 years is farming’s major challenge—and the solution, if we find one, lies in the creative use of innovative technologies, products and strategies, especially in the developing world.

What we don’t need are the additional burden of restrictions that will make it harder for Europeans to feed themselves.

Worst of all, however, the European Green Deal seems to assume that farmers are the foes of conservation. It treats us as a problem to be solved rather than allies in a common cause.

We’re already working hard to be as “green” as possible. On my farm, we produce a portion of our electricity with solar panels. We use GPS and other technologies to reduce waste when we apply manure and fight weeds. We plant cover crops to protect soil erosion. We grow flower strips to attract pollinating insects and improve biodiversity.

As time and technology allow, we’ll do even more of this. The surest way to prevent positive innovation, however, is to threaten the ability of farmers to make a living.

For farmers—and everybody—the European Green Deal is a rotten deal.

Marcus Holtkoetter is part of his family’s 10-generation farm, where they grow winter wheat and barley, corn, canola and pigs in the northwest part of Germany. Marcus has an active social media presence as he tells his story and that of other farmers. Marcus is a guest author for the Global Farmer Network. www.globalfarmernetwork.org