Indiary

Follow us
Back to Flash&Facts

Do Farmers still have a Future?

Walter Baxter [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Protests by angry farmers across Europe have become familiar to us for a long time. The main reasons are well known: overproduction and declining prices. No entrepreneur wishes to sell its products at a loss. The discontentment of the farmers was fueled by the ending of the EU system of milk quotas. Yet, the subsidies paid to the agricultural sector in Europe are significant: € 58 billion per year. Despite this, the overall situation of farmers, especially their income situation, remains fragile. The best example is France, one of the world's largest agricultural power. It is estimated that about 22,000 farms-10% of the total-face bankruptcy. It should be stressed that the precarious financial situation of agricultural enterprises is often due to the small size and fragmented nature of the agricultural holdings. But tackling price decreases or price volatility by removing from the market products like butter, cheese, or pork and putting them into storage is not an appropriate alternative, at least in the long term. We should also question the responsibility of the consumer. A majority of consumers go to the supermarket in order to find food products at the best price. And the supermarket will try to get the lowest prices from the food suppliers. Add to these explanations geopolitical factors such as Russia banning imports of European produces or a falloff in demand from China, and you will understand why farmers always seem to be on the brink of explosion. What is certain, is that the future of agriculture in order to feed more than 9 billion people by 2050 will depend on its ability to adapt to new technologies. This future is the so-called "smart farming".

Post a comment

Please check that the information in the fields here below is correct.

Your comment is awaiting approval and will soon appear below!

Comments :

  • No comments

Newsletters

Stay Informed about the Latest News

Created by BlueLeaf.ch