EU moves to scrap set-aside to boost grain supply
(Adds quotes from UK minister)
By Jeremy Smith
BRUSSELS, July 16 (Reuters) - In a bid to ease tight cereal supplies, Europe's farm chief plans to end the EU's restriction on farmers to leave 10 percent of land fallow so that it recovers between crops, the European Commission said on Monday.
The idea, suggested by EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, is to set the rate for obligatory set-aside, as that farmland is known in EU jargon, at zero for autumn 2007 and spring 2008 sowings. Set-aside land qualifies for EU subsidies.
Her proposal will be sent to the full European Commission, the EU's executive arm, for endorsement.
"The proposal should be seen as an answer to the present tight market situation covering autumn 2007 and spring 2008 sowings. Farmers can still continue to set aside voluntarily a part of their arable area," Fischer Boel said in a statement.
The Commission said a zero set-aside rate could encourage farmers to produce between 10 and 17 million tonnes of cereals in addition to the expected 2008 harvest, the statement said.
At the moment, the area under compulsory set-aside amounts to 3.8 million hectares. The idea of moving the 10-percent set-aside rate to zero would help ease market tension and cool down high international grains prices, the Commission said.
"In the EU-27, a lower than expected harvest in 2006 ... has led to tightening supplies at the end of the marketing year 2006/07 to current historically high prices," it said.
"Intervention stocks have shrunk considerably, from 14 million tonnes at the beginning of 2006/07 to 2.5 million tonnes now, mainly composed of maize held in Hungary," it added.
In addition, initial results of this year's wheat and barley harvests were "moderate", except in Spain, while wet weather continued to disrupt or delay harvests in western EU countries.
After the EU's mammoth reform of its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2003, it was agreed that compulsory set-aside would stay fixed at 10 percent until 2011.
Fischer Boel has made it clear on many occasions that she considers set-aside land an anachronism in modern farm policy, and is expected to recommend its abolition in a review of the 2003 reform due for publication later this year.
Britain, along with several other countries, has backed this idea and would like to see the end of the system, which dates from 1988 and was introduced to help curb grain overproduction.
"We would support that (zero set-aside rate) but we mustn't forget that we want to 'set aside' set-aside altogether," said Hilary Benn, Britain's newly-appointed agriculture minister.
"It's about building on the reform of the CAP that has been already put in place," he told reporters.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
With a few exceptions, set-aside land must not be used for any form of farm production, including horticulture and grazing.
Farmers usually have to establish a "green cover" on set-aside land by sowing grass varieties or other cover for wild birds. That green cover has to be cut away within a certain period, with cuttings left on the ground to rot into the soil.
Once the set-aside period is over, the land may be harvested for hay or silage, and may also be grazed with animals.
A spokeswoman for Britain's RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) said a number of species such as lapwings, snipes and yellowhammers had increased in numbers under set-aside but their habitats were now at risk from the proposal.
"We know the end of set-aside is coming, but we'd like to see it delayed for a year or two until the government can put other greener farming measures in place," she said.
In previous years, when EU countries have been hit with severe drought and soaring temperatures, the Commission has granted exemptions to the set-aside rules and allowed farmers to use that land to grow crops to produce animal feed.
(Additional reporting by David Evans in London)
By Jeremy Smith
BRUSSELS, July 16 (Reuters) - In a bid to ease tight cereal supplies, Europe's farm chief plans to end the EU's restriction on farmers to leave 10 percent of land fallow so that it recovers between crops, the European Commission said on Monday.
The idea, suggested by EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, is to set the rate for obligatory set-aside, as that farmland is known in EU jargon, at zero for autumn 2007 and spring 2008 sowings. Set-aside land qualifies for EU subsidies.
Her proposal will be sent to the full European Commission, the EU's executive arm, for endorsement.
"The proposal should be seen as an answer to the present tight market situation covering autumn 2007 and spring 2008 sowings. Farmers can still continue to set aside voluntarily a part of their arable area," Fischer Boel said in a statement.
The Commission said a zero set-aside rate could encourage farmers to produce between 10 and 17 million tonnes of cereals in addition to the expected 2008 harvest, the statement said.
At the moment, the area under compulsory set-aside amounts to 3.8 million hectares. The idea of moving the 10-percent set-aside rate to zero would help ease market tension and cool down high international grains prices, the Commission said.
"In the EU-27, a lower than expected harvest in 2006 ... has led to tightening supplies at the end of the marketing year 2006/07 to current historically high prices," it said.
"Intervention stocks have shrunk considerably, from 14 million tonnes at the beginning of 2006/07 to 2.5 million tonnes now, mainly composed of maize held in Hungary," it added.
In addition, initial results of this year's wheat and barley harvests were "moderate", except in Spain, while wet weather continued to disrupt or delay harvests in western EU countries.
After the EU's mammoth reform of its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2003, it was agreed that compulsory set-aside would stay fixed at 10 percent until 2011.
Fischer Boel has made it clear on many occasions that she considers set-aside land an anachronism in modern farm policy, and is expected to recommend its abolition in a review of the 2003 reform due for publication later this year.
Britain, along with several other countries, has backed this idea and would like to see the end of the system, which dates from 1988 and was introduced to help curb grain overproduction.
"We would support that (zero set-aside rate) but we mustn't forget that we want to 'set aside' set-aside altogether," said Hilary Benn, Britain's newly-appointed agriculture minister.
"It's about building on the reform of the CAP that has been already put in place," he told reporters.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
With a few exceptions, set-aside land must not be used for any form of farm production, including horticulture and grazing.
Farmers usually have to establish a "green cover" on set-aside land by sowing grass varieties or other cover for wild birds. That green cover has to be cut away within a certain period, with cuttings left on the ground to rot into the soil.
Once the set-aside period is over, the land may be harvested for hay or silage, and may also be grazed with animals.
A spokeswoman for Britain's RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) said a number of species such as lapwings, snipes and yellowhammers had increased in numbers under set-aside but their habitats were now at risk from the proposal.
"We know the end of set-aside is coming, but we'd like to see it delayed for a year or two until the government can put other greener farming measures in place," she said.
In previous years, when EU countries have been hit with severe drought and soaring temperatures, the Commission has granted exemptions to the set-aside rules and allowed farmers to use that land to grow crops to produce animal feed.
(Additional reporting by David Evans in London)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved.
Wing Man
New video shows power of earthquake