Invited on Franceinfo on Sunday, after several days of farmers’ mobilization, the MEP calls for a better distribution of subsidies from the common agricultural policy.
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“We subsidize very little the services provided to nature”denounces EELV MEP David Cormand, Sunday January 21 on franceinfo, after several days of mobilization of farmers in France and other European countries.
“Subsidies at European level go per hectare, the larger you have a farm, the more money you receive”explains the MEP. “The smaller you have one on which you have a lot of employees, on which you put effort, the less money you receive”he continues.
Helping “farmers who are asked to change their model”
“European agriculture is the most subsidized in the world”, affirms David Cormand, specifying that “40% of the European Union budget is for agriculture.” The elected environmentalist wants subsidies from the common agricultural policy (CAP) to help instead “farmers who are asked to change their model”for example those who maintain or plant hedges on their farm to preserve biodiversity.
For David Cormand, “we blame ecology” in this movement of anger among farmers while “the last friends that farmers have, those who remain in this country and in Europe, are rather the ecologists and environmental standards.” He claims a form of radicalism: “When you have a peasant suicide every two days, you have to be a little radical in changing the model.”
“Changing the model means going against the excesses that there have been, but it also means deconstructing the models of the agri-food giants to have shorter supply chains, to move more towards agriculture food production, to go to the market more rather than going to supermarkets and going less towards processing”lists David Cormand.
“The farmers are the first victims”
“If since the 1950s, agriculture has collapsed in France, it is not because of environmental standards”, insists the MEP. He denounces a “triangle of hell”: “agribusiness with extremely intensive farming methods that rely on automation and chemical inputs, the agrifood giants who transform raw materials, who have control the prices and which make the majority of the margin on agriculture, and mass distribution which makes the other part of the margin.
The MEP says that the French government is “one of those who most defend free trade agreements”, what “creates unfair competition with other areas of the world.” “We cannot be at the same time on the side of the leaders of the agri-food industry, the chemical giants and the giants of mass distribution and shed crocodile tears for the poor farmers”which are “the first victims, including chemicals”he asserts.