UE: Agricultural Earnings Fell in 2009
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EU15 refers to the first 15 original Member States of the European Union: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom. EU27 refers to the 12 new Member States that have joined the EU since 2004: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. These 12 States are defined NMS12. With a 25.3% decline in earnings over 2008, Italy is second only to Hungary, which registered 35.6% drop, in income decrease for European Union agricultural workers and entrepreneurs. The overall drop in earnings for the EU27 States is 12.2%, while for the EU15 states the decline totaled 11.5%.
On December 18, 2009, Eurostat, the European organization overseeing EU statistics, published a document (PDF file, 111kb) with the projections for 2009 agricultural earnings. Eurostat explained that the values calculated for the fall of agricultural earnings in the EU, takes into account the lowered earnings (-14.2%), as well as the reduction of employment for the sector (-2.2%). In 2008, European Union earning were 2.5% lower when compared to 2007.
French agricultural workers, whose drop in earnings in 2009 is expected to level at 19.8%, organized a surprise protest, during which they unloaded hay and dung along Paris streets contiguous to the Élysée Palace, the official residence of the French Head of State, Nicolas Sarkozy. The aim of the action, organized by the Young Farmers branch of the main agricultural trade union, FNSEA (Fédération Nationale des Syndacats d'Expliotant Agricoles, French for National Federation of the Agricultural Worker Trade Union), was to get the attention of the Sarkozy administration, however, as it was to be expected, the participants were quickly dispersed by the French police.
Source: Eurostat |
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In the last eight years, that is from 2002 to now, just two years, 2004 and 2008, registered modest positive increases over the previous year for Italian agricultural workers. In fact, the CIA (Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori, or Italian Farmers' Confederation) already denounced in the past the state of discomfort and alarm caused by the fall of prices at the origin, highlighting the possibility of social unrest.
Source: Cia |
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In 2009, agricultural estates reported growing economic stress and consequential drop in earnings. The crisis, fueled by the increased production costs and the decline of the markets at a national and international level, is an obvious result of the global economic recession. Despite the drop in retail sales in Italy as well as in export, the food sector in general has performed better than other 'made in Italy' products. It is noteworthy the fact that from 2000 to now, the of production increased 25.8% average, while the income increased 7.1% only.
According to Confagricoltura, not one Italian food sector is in the black in 2009. The year started with serious difficulties, which continued through the whole period, for the milk and cheese industry, which showed but timid signs of reprise only in the latest week of the year. In summer it was the peach and nectarine markets to be hit by heavy crisis, and the end of the year brought lower prices for the wine and olive oil sectors. In addition, Confagricoltura spotlighted the difficult situation which shadowed the cereal sector and the livestock industry all year long, in particular the swine breeding farms.
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