Copa and Cogeca issues target warning to MEPs

The organisation, which represents over 60 farming unions throughout Europe, said current emission reduction targets for methane and ammonia were unrealistic and would severely damage the EU livestock sector at a time when it was already suffering badly.

The aim of the EU’s review is to decide policies on emissions that will “achieve levels of air quality that do not result in unacceptable impacts on, and risks to, human health and the environment”​.

Hosting the event, MEP Jim Nicholson said the challenge was to produce quality food in an environmentally friendly way. Emission reduction targets must be realistic and affordable, he said.

Nicholson, an Ulster Unionist MEP is known to take a hard line on policies that don’t offer support to farmers. In July he called the EU’s agriculture council “weak and ineffective”​ for failing to offer sufficient support to farmers, whom he said, could not continue to “absorb the pain”​ of falling prices any longer.

Speaking at the hearing, Copa and Cogeca secretary general Pekka Pesonen said: “The EU agriculture sector is ready to contribute to combating climate change, but some of the emission reduction targets included in the National Emission Ceilings Directive (NEC) are unacceptable. Farmers have also already made a lot of progress here, which should be taken into account”​.

Citing examples, UK dairy farmer Robert Brunt said 70% of his farm is in the nitrate vulnerable zone and he has spent huge amounts on projects to prevent slurry from entering the water system. He has also reduced fertiliser use by 40%. “With the collapse in milk prices, there is little money to invest or meet costly regulations,”​ he warned. He insisted that any further cuts must be manageable and achievable.

Kasper Thormod Nielsen, director of trade policy at Arla Foods, also pointed to the fact that food demand is set to rise by 60% by 2050 and farmers needed to be in a position to meet demand.

European farmers and agricultural co-operatives would also like the European Commission to come up with, by the end of 2016, a proposal for ammonia targets for 2030 that will create a level playing field within Europe and that will be science-based and cost-efficient. “This is a real chance to move things forward,”​ said a Copa and Cogeca spokeswoman.

Concluding the meeting, MEP Julie Girling, responsible for drawing up the MEPs’ report, said she knew farmers had done a lot and had been discussing with EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan how changes could be made in the CAP mid-term review.

European Parliaments will vote on the issue at the end of October.