Copa-Cogeca to stage Brussels farm protest

Copa and Cogeca, the EU-wide umbrella groups of leading farming and co-op organisations, will stage a protest in Brussels to highlight the “drastic situation hitting EU livestock, dairy, fruit and vegetable producers”.

The organisations said in a statement that they would hold a mass demonstration outside the EU agriculture ministers’ meeting on 7 September to demand action.

The Luxembourg presidency recently decided to convene the extraordinary Agriculture Council meeting to discuss “the economic crisis, especially in the dairy and in the livestock sectors, in certain member states of the EU”.

The show of unity follows growing discontent over low prices across Europe in recent months, which has culminated in the French protests and blockades of the past two weeks.

Russian embargo

Copa and Cogeca said: “There is an extremely difficult situation in the EU pigmeat, dairy, fruit and vegetable and beef markets, mainly as a result of the Russian export restrictions which shot the EU’s main export market overnight. Prices are below production costs in many countries, forcing some out of business.”

The organisations welcomed recent EU Commission decisions such as the extension of dairy intervention and private storage aid into the end of this year, but added that this is not enough to compensate producers for their losses.

Recent French protests have led consumers and public buyers to turn away from imported products, including Irish meat.

In this week’s editorial, the Irish Farmers Journal insisted that “a solution to the income challenge on family farms will not be found through EU farmers turning against each other. In fact, the opposite is true: EU farmers need to move together with one voice.”