A month after Russia announced a ban on imports of food and drink from the EU, United States, Canada and Australia, heightening a spat over the country's actions in the Ukraine, EU agriculture ministers gathered in an 'extraordinary meeting' of the Agriculture Council to discuss the impacts of the ban.

The fallout from the Russian embargo has so far seen farmers grow restive in the states and sectors where impacts have been felt most acutely; there have been protests in Spain and Polish farmers have demonstrated in Brussels. Farming groups have called for multi-million pound aid schemes to be extended and warned that the crisis fund, part of the Common Agricultural Policy, is not large enough to adequately cover the projected impacts of a year-long embargo.  

The EU Council debate on Friday focused on medium and long-term measures such as finding new markets for those products affected by the ban.

Ministers form a number of states called for "an enlargement of emergency measures," after the EU Commission announced extra funding for promotional schemes and Private Storage Aid for skimmed milk powder, butter and frozen curd. The storage aid measures aim to take excess produce off the market for a period of three to seven months, during which time authorities hope new markets will become available or producers will have been able to adjust.

Council members also highlighted the fact that there may be a need for further compensation measures for producers most affected by the ban. Ministers agreed to look for funding areas outside of the EU's agriculture budget, as the embargo was put in place in response to EU sanctions.

The assembled ministers also pledged to dissuade countries outside of the EU from offering Russia cheap produce while the ban is in effect.