Why farmers are in revolt

It's been no surprise to see French farmers blocking motorways.   Such demonstrations are part of the political culture of France and farmers are particularly likely to resort to them.

However, all over Europe farmers are in revolt.   In the Netherlands they have given support to an insurgent party while Polish farmers are threatening to block the border with Ukraine to halt grain shipments.

All this is happening when farmers receive quite generous subsidies with the CAP still accounting for around a third of the EU budget.    Admittedly, input prices went up sharply in recent inflation.

The grievances cited by the farmers are many but among them are imports which under cut them and are produced used pesticides no longer permitted in the EU.   The EU's whole green agenda is seen as a threat, not least because of the form filling burden it imposes.

Four per cent set aside is unpopular as the land still has to be maintained and it does little to boost biodiversity.

Farmers have attracted some support from the public, not least in France where gastronomy is so central to the national identity.

So what is the answer?   There isn't a simple one.  Blocking imports would harm developing countries and put up prices for consumers.  Up to now the CAP has not been modified to take account of climate change and the green agenda was intended to address this and other environmental issues such as biodiversity.   It cannot be abandoned.

Over ten years ago I wrote an article emphasizing the importance of policy instruments in the CAP and the need for them to be better designed - more closely related to policy objectives while imposing fewer transaction costs on farmers.

However, simplification has long been a call in the CAP and not much progress has been made.  Indeed, complexity is almost what defines the policy, deterring policy outsiders from probing too closely.

Alan Matthews has an interesting perspective.   He argues that the evidence shows that farmers have made steady gains in their income from agriculture over the last two decades (since 2005) and agricultural income levels have been at their highest in the past three years, despite higher input costs: http://capreform.eu/what-is-actually-happening-with-agricultural-incomes/