On Monday the European Commission unveiled more support measures for crisis-stricken farmers.

Speaking after discussing the exceptional measures at the Council of Ministers, Commissioner Hogan said the EU executive is “using all the tools made available in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support EU farmers while safeguarding the EU internal market.”

The support mechanism is being used to counter the continued effects of the price crisis, which is hitting a number of sectors. In addition to the ongoing effects of the Russian trade ban, which has seen many prominent farm sectors in EU member states lose their largest trading partner, input costs are rising and the collapse in oil prices has put down pressure on commodity prices.

The Commission said it has offered support worth over €1 billion to farmers in the last two years, including the €500m package issued last September. Measures announced on Monday are intended to be highly adjustable to allow member state governments to focus on the hardest-pressed sectors in their respective countries. However, the package does focus on the dairy, pigmeat and fruit and vegetable sectors.

Measures put forward by the Commission include voluntary supply management for dairy producers - allowing producer organisations and cooperatives to set limits on production and supply - Doubling the intervention ceilings for skimmed milk powder and butter, introducing a new private storage aid scheme for pigment and doubling the amount of extra funding for pigment and diary promotion to €60 million.  

In addition to this, the Commission will allow member states to provide a maximum of €15,000 per farmer per year in state aid. The Agricultural Markets Taskforce - launched as part of the €500 million support package from September 2015 with the aim of strengthening the role of producers in the supply chain - will meet with High Level representatives from member states to look into the dairy sector.

A Meat Market Observatory will be set up, covering beef and pigmeat, in the same vein as the Milk Market Observatory set up in 2014, and the Commission is looking into setting up an export credit scheme, which could supplement the national schemes operating in Member States.

Announcing the measures, Commissioners also said they are attempting to engineer a “rapid resumption of trade” between the EU and Russia, and are working to open up markets in areas outside the Union.

On Monday, Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan commented, ”In the interest of EU farmers, I am prepared to use all instruments that the legislators have put at our disposal, both as a short term and long term measure. We must use the appropriate instruments and actions to enable farmers to be resilient in the face of volatility whilst providing immediate assistance to them. Today's response is a comprehensive one, taking on board as many of the proposals as can be done, within the legal and budgetary constraints that apply to all of us. I believe that this is a package of measures which, when taken with the full implementation of the September solidarity package, can have a material and positive impact on European agricultural markets and it should now be given the chance to succeed.”

On Friday, EU farmers’ organisation Copa and Cogeca called on EU farm ministers and the Commission to act, describing September’s €500m package as “A drop in the ocean” and claiming that only 25% of the promised aid has so far been paid out.

Ahead of the meeting, Copa demanded measures including a re-commencement of trade with Russia. Though many of Copa’s demands appear to have been met in the Commission’s package, the farm group also lobbied for a removal of import duties (especially for fertilisers and machinery), state aid and loan and debt relief, and moves to combat unfair practices so that farmers get a better return for their produce and are not “squeezed unfairly” by retailers.

Copa’s Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen reminded ministers that thousands of farmers have been protesting across the EU, saying, “Hit by the unprecedented crisis, over 5000 farmers with 600 tractors demonstrated today in Finland alone. Mass protests have been taking place across Europe, including in Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Scotland, and in Brussels on Monday.”