Global Trade: The New Threat to Europe’s Farmers

by Webeditor — last modified 2007-11-19 13:06

Despite international trade rules and subsidy policies intended to help European farmers compete better in the global marketplace, the EU each year imports 8 billion Euro worth of food more than its exports. Food trade imbalances have worsened for many EU countries since 1999, particularly Greece, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

Imports of all major food groups have soared since 1999, including meat, fruit, vegetables, cereals, and oils. At the same time, exports of many food types––including meat, cereals, and oils––have remained flat or declined.

European farmers have particular difficulty competing with food imports from developing nations, which benefit from low-cost labor and land, as well as food safety, environmental, and labor regulations that are often far weaker than European standards. Aided by these factors, food imports from the developing world have risen by 40 percent since 1999.

In addition to farmers and farming communities, imported food also puts consumers at risk. China, the leading source of unsafe food entering the EU, has been caught exporting genetically modified rice, seafood, honey containing illegal antibiotics, and illegally irradiated foods. Other dangerous imports stopped at the border include mercury-tainted fish from Indonesia and EU-banned antibiotics in both Vietnamese shrimp and Myanmar tilapia.

Europe’s farmers are in a fight for their livelihoods. Due in part to surging imports, 300,000 farms go out of business every year.

Among the toughest struggles is the effort to stop the importation of Brazilian beef. An investigation by the Irish Farmers Association found that Brazil is injecting animals with EU-banned hormones, slashing-and-burning rainforests to make room for cattle feedlots, exploiting farmworkers, and failing to contain foot-and-mouth disease. Brazilian beef imports have risen 20 percent since 2003, and retail prices are lower than beef from France, Ireland, and Italy.

Food & Water Watch Europe is working with Members of the European Parliament to stop the importation of Brazilian beef. We are also working with farming, consumer and environmental groups throughout the EU to change trade policies that place European farmers at a disadvantage.

Food & Water Watch Comments on Brazilian Beef

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Global Trade: The New Threat to Europe’s Farmers

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