Farmers Guardian | July 20, 2001
CONCERN is growing in Brussels that the proposed new US Farm Bill could cause severe ramifications at November's World Trade Organisation agricultural talks in Doha, Qatar.
The new Bill, which is progressing through Congress, aims to increase agricultural aid when prices are low, which is likely to encourage additional production.
Maeve Doran-Schiratti, deputy head of Franz Fischler's cabinet, said such support would be one of the most distorting forms of subsidy.
Mrs Doran-Schiratti said she believed the Bill would be a serious backward step for the United States, when compared to the FAIR Act, which sought to de-couple support in the second half of the 1990s.
"If the Farm Bill goes through it will be almost impossible to see how the US can negotiate in this round," she said.
The European Commission is prepared to give way on export refunds, an issue vociferously demanded by the Cairns Group.
But it wants other nations to take measures to remove the distortion in export competition, such as export credits, misuse of food aid and state trading enterprises.
And it will be battling to win concessions from others on issues such as the need for the EU to retain the multifunctionality of its agricultural policy.
Animal welfare and food safety are likely to be two major issues where the Commission may be fighting a lone battle.
Mrs Doran-Schiratti said animal welfare was an extremely emotional issue on which the Commission would find hard to reach agreement.
"Unfortunately, there are countries that accuse us of seeking a better deal for battery hens when they say they are fighting for food for their children."
She said the Commission sought to place animal welfare support in the green (non-trade distorting box) because the issue involved an ongoing cost to the farmer.
Food safety issues, such as the EU's ongoing ban on hormones in beef, is also likely to cause some heat at Doha.
The Commission's latest position is to have banned one hormone on scientific evidence that it is carcinogenic, while it has placed a provisional ban on four others.
Copyright 2001 Miller Freeman UK LtdFarmers Guardian:
