This document discusses the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union. It presents an independent view on the CAP and how the EU spends €55 billion per year on farm subsidies. It argues that if citizens knew how much was spent on subsidies, they may not approve. It advocates using freedom of information requests and investigative reporting to have better public debate and lead to improved policy. The document also includes charts showing the costs to taxpayers to destabilize dairy markets, listing the top dairy companies in the UK that received export subsidies and the countries they exported to between 2004-2005.

1. The Future of the CAP:
An Independent View
Agra Europe Outlook for Agriculture
16 March 2010
Jack Thurston
Co-founder, farmsubsidy.org

3. If citizens knew how the
EU spends €55 billion a
year on farm subsidies...
Would they approve?

4. Our method
Freedom of
information Good stories
+ +
Beer
Investigative Public debate policy
reporting

7. 6 | | BUSINESS Business & Media |
21.05.06
CASH COWS
WHAT IT COSTS THE TAXPAYER TO DESTABILISE DAIRY MARKETS
British export subsidies, by Export subsidy granted, by company, 2004 and 2005
destination country, 2004 and 2005
Fayrefield
Foods* £22,149,818
Philpot Dairy
Products £21,957,002
SAUDI Dale
ARABIA Farm* £19,391,504
£2,147,003
INDIA
£1,244,914 Nestle
UK £7,442,672
JA N
APAN
UAE BANGLADESH £1,24 273
£ 44,2
ALGERIA £6,016,605 £3,479,499
£9,413,948
TMC Dairies
EGYP
YPT (NI) £6,421,069
MEXICO £3,03 340
,031,340
£7,714,200
PH IPPINE
PHILIP NES
JAMAICA
JA AICA £1,7 ,901
,708,9
£2,296,9 7
£2 296,987 OMA
OMAN Hoogwegt
£4,660,97
,660,973 International £6,016,872
SUDAN THAILA D
HAILAND
IVORY COAST
IVO £3,906,970 £6 06,805
£6,706,80
VENEZUELA £5,722,515
722,515 Lakeland Dairies
£2,274,752 (NI) £4,863,754
NIGERIA
£11,782,308 IND
INDONESIA
ESIA
£2,94 8
£2,947,118
Eilers & Wheeler
Sales £4,009,257
Meadow
Foods £3,335,750
KEY F Uhrenholt
Dairy £3,084,188
*includes subsidiaries
£1 to £4m £4 to £7m £7m+
£0m 5 10 15 20
GRAPHIC: CATH LEVETT PHOTOGRAPH: ALAMY SOURCE: FARMSUBSIDY.COM
Who’s creaming off EU subsidies?
Exports of cheap European dairy products are crushing the livelihoods of developing world farmers, writes Heather Stewart
ritish-based exporters, including known as the EU ‘butter mountain’ cow is one of the most reliable ways of on behalf of the EU, said Britain would
Nestle and Dairy Crest, have (‘wine lakes’ were another manifestation Peter Mandelson lifting yourself out of poverty,’ says like to see them abolished.
claimed £126m of taxpayers’ of the same problem). But after a barrage agreed to Europe Thurston, who is trying to compile a ‘We would prefer that export refunds

14. Three BIG problems with the CAP:
1. It’s Expensive
2. It’s Untargeted
3. It’s Unequal

15. Three BIG problems with the CAP:
1. It’s Expensive
2. It’s Untargeted
3. It’s Unequal

16. Growth of the CAP budget
€ billions EU-10 EU-12 EU-15 EU-25 EU-27
➔ ➔ ➔ ➔ ➔
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Export subsidies Market support
Direct aids Rural development

17. EU Budget, 2007-2013
Admin
Jobs, growth, 6%
security, justice,
foreign policy,
overseas aid,
43% Farm subsidies
climate, energy, 51%
environment,
R&D, science &
innovation...

18. Farm subsidy expenditure, 2007
€ billions
60
52
45
30
15 12.8
?
0
EU National Regional & local

19. Three BIG problems with the CAP:
1. It’s Expensive
2. It’s Untargeted
3. It’s Unequal

20. Proposed EU Budget: 2010

21. Photo: NASA

22. Photo: Laura Leon / IHT

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!"#

24. “In conclusion, the current
system fails to deliver value
for taxpayers’ money. The
underlying lack of logic in
the current direct payment
system, with no link between
Through
the green
subsidies received and smokescreen
public goods delivered must
be urgently addressed.”
How is CAP cross compliance
delivering for biodiversity?
BirdLife International,
November 2009

25. Cross Compliance:
geing paid for obeying the law
“Many, if not all, standards are likely to have
been legal requirements for some years before
cross compliance was introduced in 2005...
...the overall value of the Single Payment [is] in
the majority of cases…likely to vastly exceed
the total related costs.”
Institute for European Environment Policy, 2007

26. Cross Compliance in Scotland, 2008
Number of
Amount
payments
Subsidies 48,603 €541 million
Cross compliance
310 €203,121
breaches
Proportion 0.6% 0.0004%

27. Targeting policies to objectives
Objective Policy
Incentivise ecological performance;
Preserve natural resources
regulation: polluter pays
Target poorest rural households;
Safeguard rural livelihoods
invest in economic diversification
More open markets; skills,
Reliable, affordable food supply
knowledge & new technology
Income support for poor households,
Preventing hunger
food stamp type policies
Skills, marketing, protection of
High quality production
intellectual property

28. Three BIG problems with the CAP:
1. It’s Expensive
2. It’s Untargeted
3. It’s Unequal

29. Top 18% of recipients
get 85% of the money

30. 82 % of beneficiaries get
less than €5,000

34. Direct aid, € per hectare - UAA, 2013
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
BE BG CZ DK DE EE IE EL ES FR IT CY LV LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SE UK

35. Harvesting cash
on Anglesey

36. €27,286 / hectare
M & R S Rogers,
Bodrida Brynsiencyn

37. Wales: SPS Rates, 2008: Top 5
Recipient Municipality € / ha
H W & E E WILLIAMS PWLLHELI 44,535
LLANFAIR
M & R S ROGERS 27,286
PWLLGWYNGYLL
TG HARRIS DYFED 26,848
W L RAYMOND &
HAVERFORD WEST 26,008
LAWRENCE
E R OWEN & SON HOLYHEAD 21,814

38. Wales: SPS Rates, 2008: Boom 5
Recipient Municipality € / ha
JDF JONES CAERNARFON 1.48
RL JAMES CARMARTHEN 1.14
HG MORGAN NARBERTH 0.75
ML THOMAS CLYDACH 0.36
DT OWEN CAERNARFON 0.01

39. Wales: SPS Rates, 2008
€ per hectare Recipients Proportion
500+ 1058 6%
400-500 982 6%
300-400 2602 16%
200-300 5376 32%
100-200 4815 29%
less than 100 1908 11%

41. “The payment rates defined in
entitlements vary greatly depending
upon: the historic claims record of the
2005 applicant in the period 2000 -
2002, any National Reserve award,
the volume of Milk Quota held on 31
March 2005, and the Tonneage of
Sugar Beet Contract held in 2005.”

42. Direct aid, € per farm worker - AWU, 2013
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
BE BG CZ DK DE EE IE EL ES FR IT CY LV LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SE UK

43. Average rural development spend, € per hectare - UAA (2013)
250
1,032
200
150
100
50
0
BE BG CZ DK DE EE IE EL ES FR IT CY LV LT LU HU MT NL AT PL PT RO SI SK FI SE UK

44. How to spend it
- Ecological farming:
uplands, organic farms...
- Marginal land at risk
of abandonment
- Invest in knowledge and
skills: resource use,
marketing, diversification
- Measures to address price &
income volatility

45. EU Farm Income Growth
2000-2008
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"#$#%&'(#)*!&+!*,#!-./012%*2/-%!0)1&(#!0)!*,#!34567!
&$#/!*,#!68889688:!;'<!'#/0&=>!0)!*#/(?!&+!-))2-%!1,-).#!;@<!-)=!12(2%-*0$#!./&A*,!;6888BC88<!
15% 130
10%
10% 9% 120
9%
5% 110
4%
Cumulative growth
1%
0% 100
Annual growth
-3%
-5% 90
-5%
-10% -9% 80
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
!
234!3*56+7+580.!9!:5-*,$;!<-*57/0/

48. A post-Fischler selement for the CAP?
Redistribution is politically toxic, but...
- Phase out historic entitlements
- More conditionality on area payments
- ‘Public money for public goods’ rhetoric
- Price/income volatility measures - optional?
- Budget cuts - 30% by 2020, but how?
- Co-financing - compulsory, rates vary by
measure and by country

49. Thanks for listening!
Jack Thurston
Co-founder, farmsubsidy.org
jack@farmsubsidy.org