EU Fertiliser Action Plan fails to deliver for farmers - Copa Cogeca
The EU Fertiliser Action Plan fails to deliver immediate relief for farmers and to address a "looming food crisis", according to Copa Cogeca.
The umbrella organisation, representing European farmers and agri-cooperatives, held a protest in Strasbourg yesterday (Tuesday, May 19) as the European Commission unveiled its plan to address soaring fertiliser prices driven by the war in the Middle East.
EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, said the plan combines "immediate support measures" - aimed at supporting affordability and security of supply - with "longer-term action" to strengthen domestic fertiliser production.
Fertiliser
However, Copa Cogeca said the commission's plan is "being perceived as a profound disappointment".
The organisation said that the plan "contains no immediate measures that would give farmers hope of economic relief for the short term with the Middle East crisis".
It added the plan "lacks of firm and ambitious measures in the medium and longer term to provide relief from the multiplication of EU policies artificially increasing fertilisers prices".
"If, in the coming weeks and months, prices for the main categories of fertilisers remain at their current levels, the farming crisis will quickly turn into food inflation for European consumers and a food crisis on a global scale.
"After several years of operating in the red, combined with stagnant cereal prices, the cash flow of many arable farms across Europe will be unable to absorb a shock of this magnitude.
"There is therefore an urgent need to act and to anticipate fertiliser shortage in addition to prohibitive prices," Copa Cogeca said.
Copa Cogeca said the plan contains "some welcome long-term ambitions", including extending the RENURE derogation to digestates, facilitating the movement of nutrients between regions, with potential amendments of the Nitrates and Waste Directives.
The commission also announced the potential consideration of additional trade measures, as well as increasing market transparency.
"These possible measures remain careful in their wording, with no firm commitment, and fail to provide the few concrete measures that could bring immediate relief apart from using existing and already programmed CAP funds, at the discretion of member states, which is far from a coordinated and common EU response.
"Furthermore, this approach is not reactive enough to the crisis in the sector nor comes equipped with the necessary new additional funding," the organisation added.
Copa Cogeca
Copa Cogeca called for the Fertiliser Action Plan to be "implemented without any further delays and complemented by immediate, concrete solutions that match the scale of the crisis".
The organsation called for action to improve liquidity for farmers and the suspension of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) levy.
It also urged the commission and member states to act decisively by suspending Most-Favored Nation (MFN) tariffs on all fertilisers (excluding Russia and Belarus).
In addition, Copa Cogeca said member states should be allowed "to derogate from Nitrates Directive thresholds for the next cropping season"
"The European agriculture sector is heading straight towards a fertiliser wall, while the European Union monitors and hesitates when it should be taking action, because otherwise tomorrow it will be all European consumers who will find themselves up against the wall," the organisation said.
