Global Poll

Farmers Weekly is also running a forum at www.fwi.co.uk/globalpollforum2010 where you can contribute further to the debate.

• Overview

  • As Europe prepares for another round of CAP reform and the US Congress reviews its Farm Bill, the timing could not be better to gauge the feelings of farmers the world over on the purpose of agricultural subsidy.

    
    

    To take the opportunity to tell the world how you feel, all you have to do is choose one of the four options available above. Once you’ve voted, you’ll be able to see how the results are shaping up.

    
    

    So how do farmers the world over feel about agricultural subsidy?

    
    

    The feelings of a New Zealand sheep farmer, in a country where subsidy was scaled back to zero in less than a year, would be remarkably different to those of a Welsh hill farmer.

    
    

    A midwest US corn grower, enjoying prices buoyed by ethanol subsidy, would disagree with Canadian beef producers struggling with high feed prices.

    
    

    And as Asian, Indian and Russian markets show massive potential for exports, which of the globe’s biggest producers will steal the march?

    
    

    Few are better placed to comment on farmers’ concerns and aspirations than the editors of the world’s leading farming publications.

    
    

    Click on the flags to the right hand side to read what they have to say.

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
     

• United States

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    With agriculture currently the darling of an otherwise despondent American economy, radical reform of the US Farm Bill when it is reviewed in 2012 looks unlikely. Commodity prices are high, exports are buoyant and the US is aggressively seeking to seize what global market share it can.

    
    

    “There’s less money to work with, but the conservative view is that subsidy is a question of national security, and that’s gaining a lot of support,” said Dan Looker, business editor of Successful Farming, the nation’s largest-circulation farming publication. “Most commodity growers also seek the status quo.”

    
    

    Currently US farmers receive around $5.4bn (£3.5bn) in direct payments, which averages to around $25/acre (£40/ha). Income-loss payments, substantial in the past, have dropped on the back of rising world prices – dairy farmers are expected to receive $90m (£58m) in forthcoming years, against $1bn (£640m) in 2009.

    
    

    It is the ethanol subsidy – 45 cents/gallon (6p/litre) amounting to $5.8bn (£3.7bn) – that proves to be the most controversial.

    
    

    “This has had the effect of supporting corn prices at much higher levels than we’ve seen in the past. No one is going to starve as a result, but it has contributed to a modest rise in food prices and a significant effect on feed. It’s hit the meat and dairy sectors hard.”

• New Zealand

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    New Zealand’s agriculture has been through the pain of losing all subsidy. But what has evolved since the mid-1980s is strong and thriving industry, especially in the dairy and lamb sectors.

    
    

    “New Zealand farmers see themselves as leading suppliers of protein to the world,” claimed Tim Fulton, editor of New Zealand Farmers Weekly. “They’re very close to the market and have grown accustomed to the wild currency swings that influence returns for their products. The best part of what they do is efficiency of production – in lamb and milk they are among the lowest-cost producers in the developed world.”

    
    

    The grass-based system puts producers in a particularly strong position when others are struggling with high feed prices. The IFCN (International Farm Comparison Network) puts the average New Zealand 350-cow dairy herd on a cost-comparison level with the world’s most efficient subsistence farmers.

    
    

    “The government is pushing hard for freer trade. In the Pacific and Asian markets this is looking more positive, so producers are able to circumvent the world trade deadlock.”

    
    

    Producing 27.5% of the world’s dairy trade, 95% of New Zealand’s production is exported. The country benefits from free-trade agreements with China and many others in the Pacific, while lucrative new markets – like India – are opening up.

    
    

    “Farmers here don’t resent the highly subsidised European farming. Increasingly they feel their approach has little in common with it. If freer trade with Europe comes, it’ll be good, but they’re not relying on it.”

• Canada

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    In Canada, your eligibility for subsidy depends on what you grow, and to some extent where.

    
    

    With 75-80% of wheat exported, crop and livestock farmers sell at North American or international market prices. A national programme, AgriStability, pays out to those farmers that are generally profitable, but are hit by market price dips or crop failure.

    
    

    A substantial part of the country’s $8bn (£5bn) of farm support is supply management to protect Canadian dairy and poultry producers. Consumer prices are set at a level that gives farmers a reasonable profit, keeping milk in Canadian shops currently about 60 cents/litre (37p/litre) above US prices.

    
    

    While Canadian processors often complain about the higher prices, consumers don’t usually object, said John Morriss, editorial director of Country Guide, Canada’s largest national farming magazine. “No government would dare touch [supply management]. It’s sacrosanct,” Mr Morriss said.

    
    

    But it comes under fire in world trade talks.

    “It’s fine for our friends in Australia and New Zealand to throw nasty comments about our closed market. They don’t share 5000km of border with the world’s largest subsidised agricultural economy.”

    
    

    Sharing that border has its ups and downs. Recently, cattle and pig producers have had to face sharp discounts due to US country-of-origin-labelling (COOL) laws, which require both animals and meat to be segregated when sent to the US.

• Australia

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    As if an unsupported market wasn’t enough, Australian farmers have to deal with one of the world’s harshest climates.

    
    

    “Farmers here have just come through 12 years of bad drought, and now there are floods ruining crops in Victoria,” according to Ed Gannon, editor of the country’s biggest rural paper, the Weekly Times. “When the weather is that much of a challenge, subsidy is the least of your worries.”

    
    

    The last of the floor prices, which used to support commodity markets, fell away in the early 1990s. But there’s a thriving export market that the resilient Australian farmers have been keen to supply.

    
    

    “Beef has been selling into Korea extremely well since foot and mouth hit in 2003. Japan has also been an important market. China has been buying a lot of live heifers.”

    
    

    Around half the national beef production is exported, while 900,000 head of live cattle and four million live sheep leave the country every year. 40% of the barley and 62% of wheat is also exported.

    
    

    “Dairy is the biggest issue we have with Europe and the US. Over-production and talk of price support hit producers here hard,” said Mr Gannon. “Their view is that European farmers are an over-protected bunch that need to operate in the cold, harsh reality of the unprotected world. We operate in a freer environment, but really get caught up in other countries’ protectionism.”

• South Africa

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    South African farmers are among the least supported in the world. But it’s not the lack of subsidy that holds them back.

    
    

    “Africa is the last place on the planet that still hasn’t tapped its great potential for agricultural development,” said Chris Burgess, editor of South African Farmers Weekly. “If we could sort out the political situation it would come on in leaps and bounds.”

    
    

    Preferential trading agreements with the EU mean South Africa has a good trade in wine, fruit and wool, while import tariffs protect red meat and wheat. But international aid to the continent is seen as richer economies dumping unwanted produce, and this stymies efforts by individual countries to build a better agricultural economy.

    
    

    “In South Africa there’s a difference between white commercial farmers and new black entrants, who receive start-up support. Since recent price hikes, commercial farmers have become more valued. They don’t want subsidy. They want better infrastructure and less interference from First World countries who seem to write the rule book.”

    
    

    To class the rest of African agriculture as subsistence is short-sighted, he added.

    
    

    “Many nations have made huge strides towards self-sufficiency, and some of our best farmers have been poached. There’s embezzlement and corruption to deal with, but there is great potential.”

• United Kingdom

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    A whopping €57bn (£48bn) of subsidy pumps through the veins of European agriculture, with €4.2bn (£3.5bn) paid to UK farmers.

    
    

    Seldom popular, the pressure to reduce the payments made under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has never been greater, as European finance ministers grapple with colossal budget deficits.

    
    

    “Since subsidy was decoupled from production, there’s now more emphasis on farmers being paid for the eco-system services they provide – from care for soils and water to retaining biodiversity and the social fabric of rural life,” said the editor of UK Farmers Weekly, Jane King.

    
    

    “It’s difficult to imagine the 27 EU countries involved will agree to change the CAP much when it is reviewed in 2012. But farmers will be scrutinised more closely for the value they deliver.”

    
    

    There’s talk of greening the CAP further, to ensure payments benefit the wider environment. But many seek more emphasis on food production, to protect supplies for the world’s wealthiest continent of 500 million consumers.

    
    

    “In austere times you have to be realistic about what the CAP can achieve. But if UK farmers are to meet the global challenges that lie ahead, it must ensure UK agriculture remains productive and competitive.”