Memorandum submitted by the Family Farmers'
Association
AGRICULTURE AND EU ENLARGEMENT
1. Our committee does not have any expertise
on the situation in the accession states. One of our number (Michael
Hart) has been in Poland several times and has confirmed the general
impression given in the media. This is of a great variation within
the state, from subsistence farming on the one hand to extremely
large farms on the other. This is said to be the case in the other
states, but Poland is expected to pose the greatest problems because
of the huge number of farmers there. The large farms may or may
not be organised on modern, efficient lines. We look forward with
great interest to reading your report for a definitive view of
"the current state of agricultural production"!
2. It seems highly probable that attempting
to operate the CAP in the accession states will lead to many complications
and possibly great hardship for the smaller, peasant type farmers,
it has been officially stated that a great many of them—perhaps
a million—will have to go. Where to? Likewise the ancillary
industries. Michael cited a present figure of 4,200 abattoirs.
Presumably EU regulations will make most of them uneconomic. But
if abattoirs become few and far between, as in England, how will
the animals get to them? Now a large proportion of them simply
walk there. Has the EU worked this one out? It is but one example
of the complications that will arise.
3. In a nutshell, it appears that enormous
areas of farming will have to undergo more or less instantaneously
the evolutionary process that has taken us 50 years or more, Is
this possible? (None of us has been asked if it is desirable'
it is said that the farmers were the people least keen on joining
the EU.)
4. As for the impact on the agricultural
markets, if this could be foretold, no doubt clever traders would
make fortunes. It is the business of governments of all ranks
to be optimistic and tell us that all will be for the best. But
farmers who are not of a size to be expecting handsome pensions
from their decoupled payments are extremely worried that the new
states will be sending us agricultural produce at a price below
our cost of production. We will not only face competition from
the unregulated produce of South America, and other places, but
there may be increasing competition from just across the channel.
5. Also we cannot help but be sympathetic
with farmers used to a simple cash economy having to cope with
EU regulations. In particular, registering all their calves within
27 days of birth! Are their cattle numbered? Do they already have
movement records or will that be another thing they have to learn?
Will arrangements be made to pay subsidies in cash to those who
do not have bank accounts? On what records will subsidy payments
be made? Will the sanction for non compliance with regulations
simply be the withholding of subsidies—which they are not
used to anyway—or will they be fined?
6. You have taken on a mammoth task if you
hope to find out what is actually going to happen in the 10 states
and how it will affect European agriculture as a whole.
The Family Farmers' Association
January 2004
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