The Rural Voice, 1993-02, Page 14Robert Mercer
The complexities of set-aside in Europe
child's play
This past month I spent two
weeks in Europe and had time to
discuss, in part, some of the effects
of the new Common Agricultural
policy on farmers. If you think
GRIP and NISA are difficult to
understand, thank your subsidy
cheque that you don't farm in
Europe.
In trying to understand how the
new set-aside program works in the
United Kingdom, I went through
their Explanatory Booklet, (all 44
pages) which even listed those
varieties of rapeseed which could be
planted in order to be eligible for
farm program benefits. The farmer
has to retain invoices and seed labels
for possible inspection, and when it
gets down to farm -saved seeds the
requirements get even more
restrictive.
The set-aside is 15 per cern and
the compensation is based on
regional yield factors. For instance,
in 92/93 if the conversion rates hold
steady on currency and the green
rate is unadjusted (conversion from
ECU's to local
currency for ag
subsidy
calculations),
cereals would be
paid at
£ 1 17.92/tonne
and oilseeds at
£372.68. (The
pound sterling is
about $2
Canadian.)
These values are
those calculated
for the average
English yield.
So rapeseed set-
aside is over $700 per ha. This is
partly why the acreage of oilseed is
seen to shrink in Europe in 1993.
Much of the discussion I got
involved with in the back kitchen
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make NISA / GRIP
was over rotational set-aside for the
arable area payments and the
complexities of eligible land.
I certainly wish the Europeans
well in their efforts to try to curb
excessive non-productive
production, and applaud their
concerns over environmental
control, established for set-aside
land which restricts chemical use
and manure stockpiling on those set-
aside acres. But the complexities of
the scheme shatter my belief in
effective control. An army of
"arable police" will be needed to
cross check the form — to the land
— to the application, all before the
next season changes the crops and
the areas farmed. Satellites can
help, but the administrative costs
will certainly help keep employment
up.
On this trip it was difficult to
realize that much of England, these
past two years, has been on water
restrictions in towns and villages.
The countryside was green and lush.
Winter wheat looked excellent, and
the water table high. Fall rains had
restored much of the soil moisture
and some of the subsoil reserves.
It's nice to get away and see how
other people are coping, even if they
do blame the French and the U.S.
for their problems, but it was better
to come home to the countryside of
Canada where the air is fresher, the
space more open, and the future a
little more in owners' own hands,
rather than in the hands of the
government.
Farming in Europe is becoming
very difficult. The pressures on land
from development, from animal
rights groups, health and welfare
and environmentalists make the
normal difficulties of farming from
practical troubles to political
nonsense. No wonder there are a lot
of mid -Europeans seeking a better
family life here in Canada.0
Robert Mercer is editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter, a weekly
commodity and policy advisory letter
from Goodwood, Ontario LOC IAO.