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Under EU rules (the CAP, which uses a large part of the EU budget) basically every farm whether dairy or crop is subsidised. For many dairy farms in upland regi

by desas 6y ago

Under EU rules (the CAP, which uses a large part of the EU budget) basically every farm whether dairy or crop is subsidised. For many dairy farms in upland regions, crop farming isn't economically viable due to the terrain, so cows and sheep are farmed instead. Even then many farms are only viable due to the subsidies.

lostlogin 6y ago
New Zealand farmers (who produce a lot of milk) have struggled with the level of subsidy the US and EU provide. Im a New Zealander and it used to be a thing I’d read about and feel frustrated. However dairy farming trashes your land and waterways. Selling milk and milk powder is about the dumbest use of the land we could have come up with and it had caused massive harm.
toyg 6y ago
The CAP is not just subsidies, it's regulation too - even under its arrangements, because of modern efficiency there is simply too much milk being produced at the European level. In some years, farmers are literally paid to throw it away. This is because Europeans believe our agricultural peculiarities are worth protecting from the disruption of unbridled economic influences. Countries like France, Spain, or Italy, protect their milk so they can protect their cheese, so they can protect their recipes, so they can protect their food culture (and revenues) at large - a differentiator in the long term.
- dmurray 6y ago
  It's also a strategic play: if you're dependent on imports for your food, some foreign power has a lot of leverage over you in a trade war or worse, an actual war. So you spend money to keep production at home even though it might be more economically efficient to abandon those farms and import more of your food. Some of the EU's subsidies go to "agricultural peculiarities" or small producers of niche traditional foods. That's fine, you're still propping up demand for the raw materials - that milk is just as good as any other if it comes to a crisis.

by desas 6y ago

lostlogin 6y ago

New Zealand farmers (who produce a lot of milk) have struggled with the level of subsidy the US and EU provide. Im a New Zealander and it used to be a thing I’d read about and feel frustrated. However dairy farming trashes your land and waterways. Selling milk and milk powder is about the dumbest use of the land we could have come up with and it had caused massive harm.

toyg 6y ago

The CAP is not just subsidies, it's regulation too - even under its arrangements, because of modern efficiency there is simply too much milk being produced at the European level. In some years, farmers are literally paid to throw it away. This is because Europeans believe our agricultural peculiarities are worth protecting from the disruption of unbridled economic influences. Countries like France, Spain, or Italy, protect their milk so they can protect their cheese, so they can protect their recipes, so they can protect their food culture (and revenues) at large - a differentiator in the long term.

dmurray 6y ago
It's also a strategic play: if you're dependent on imports for your food, some foreign power has a lot of leverage over you in a trade war or worse, an actual war. So you spend money to keep production at home even though it might be more economically efficient to abandon those farms and import more of your food. Some of the EU's subsidies go to "agricultural peculiarities" or small producers of niche traditional foods. That's fine, you're still propping up demand for the raw materials - that milk is just as good as any other if it comes to a crisis.