Highland 2010: Call for EU laws to give farmers clout

New European legislation to give producers more clout in their trade with supermarkets has been advocated by Paolo de Castro, the chairman of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee.

The former Italian Agriculture minister said new instruments were urgently required to give power to farmers to help them manage contracts with supermarkets and harmonise the price payment approach across Europe.

“This is one of the worst moments in the history of farm prices,” he said during a press conference at the Royal Highland Show.

“Decreases in prices are putting a strain on our farmers and threaten the survival of a significant proportion of European agriculture. There is a danger that farmers will close their businesses down and they might not open again.

“We are therefore looking to find rules at European level which would give power to farmers to give them a better price. We need to give them more instruments.”

Mr de Castro referred to giving more power to farm cooperatives and associations and finding ways of tightening the payment system across Europe.

“In France farmers are paid by supermarkets in 30 days whereas in Italy it can take three months. That is not right because it means there is distortion across Member States,” he said.