Allister answers distortions about Single Farm Payment
13 October 2007
Speaking in a debate in the European Parliament, Jim Allister MEP opposed further proposals by Brussels on the publication of individual receipts of farm subsidies. This controversial issue has already led to a distorted public view of farm incomes, because no mention is ever made of the reality that without the much publicised Single Farm Payment most farmers could not survive. In reality it is subsidising the EU's untenable cheap food policy. Thus to headline it as a hand-out, when in truth it puts cheap food on the consumer's table, is most unfair.
In the course of his remarks Mr Allister said:-
"It can be a fine line between transparency and privacy. Many farmers, in my view rightly, resent the details of their Single Farm Payment being plastered over the internet because of the distorted perception of free handout which it creates.
The reality, of course, is that for most the SFP is in fact subsidising our cheap food policy. Take the beef sector. A Task Force report in my constituency demonstrates beef producers are losing 260M Euro pa; only their SFP keeps them going by subsidising production. So when it is publicised that a farmer received 40,000 euros it misleads, for there is no mention that at the same time he is losing 50,000 Euros or more in his production operation. To be fair publication should be accompanied by typical profit and loss statistics from commodity sales."
