Debate: The severe impact of the recent spring frost on fruit and wine growers
Date: THURSDAY, 20 MAY 2021
Speaker: Janusz Wojciechowski
Language: EN

Honourable Members of the European Parliament, risk management requires three essential elements: risk prevention and adaptation to new conditions, in particular environmental and climate ones, the right risk management tools to deal with it, and an adequate budget to finance it.  Currently the common agricultural policy offers various options to help farmers to adapt to new production conditions and manage their business risk, mainly through sectoral market programmes financed by the guarantee fund or rural development programmes financed by the Rural Development Fund.  Risk prevention and adaptation to new conditions is important and can be improved. Sectoral fruit and vegetable and wine programmes can play a key role to help growers to adjust to climatic events. Rural development programmes allow Member States to offer public support aiming at helping farmers increase the resilience of their businesses at holding level.  The common agricultural policy already supports compensation schemes to cover production losses caused, for instance, by adverse climatic events such as frost. Farmers may receive public support to address the risk from climate-related events from all risk management instruments, such as insurance, mutual funds or income stabilisation tools. Furthermore, support for the restoration of production potential damaged by natural disasters is possible.  I wanted to point out to you that the CAP tools are available. However, in order to implement them, and to make them available for farmers, Member States and sectoral producers’ organisations have to activate them in their programmes.  About risk management in the future CAP. In the future CAP we have to do more. The Commission recognises the increased exposure of the sector to climate-related risks. The proposal for the post-2020 common agricultural policy that we are currently debating in the trilogue negotiations delivers on the needs of risk management and use of innovative tools to be included in the preparation of the CAP strategic plans. The CAP can provide support to help farmers manage their production and income risks from unexpected weather events outside their control. Specifically, insurance and mutual funds, including income stabilisation tools, should remain possible but support will also be possible for other more innovative risk management tools.  Member States will be required to conduct a needs assessment and approach the objective strategically, including the planning and implementation of relevant support schemes. Such a strategy needs to include support to withstand unexpected shocks. The scope of the risk management tools under the FRD has been widened to accommodate the above-mentioned needs.  Concerning the budget. You are aware that we discussed the agriculture reserve during the trilogue on the horizontal regulation on 23 April. At that time, the Council Presidency stressed that the Council’s general approach reflects the July 2020 European Council decisions. As you remember, the EUCO set a fixed amount of EUR 450 million per year as a crisis reserve. I understand that for the European Parliament it is crucial to have a more flexible reserve. I’m sure this point will be on the agenda at the super trilogue next week.  In relation to the second question: does the Commission intend to propose any measures to help the farmers concerned overcome the losses caused by the frost? As this stage, the Commission is not intending to activate sectoral support measures connected to the frost damages caused this year in the wine and fruit and vegetable sectors. However, close monitoring of the situation in the sectors will continue, keeping the option open to react were needed.  The immediate issue is the potential impact on harvest later this year. Crop losses due to the frost comes at a time when wine producers have already been hit hard by COVID-19 lockdowns and bar and restaurant closures as well as the cancellation of wine fairs and loss of revenue from tourism.  Therefore, the monitoring and assessment of the situation in the wine and food sectors should also consider the extensive and extraordinary support that is being provided to the agricultural sector as a response to the COVID pandemic. This includes the expanded state aid options and other dedicated support schemes, such as under the FRD exceptional temporary support to farmers and SMEs particularly affected by the COVID-19 crisis.  For the sectoral market programmes, the Commission could consider, where feasible, adjustments in existing fruit and vegetable and wine programmes in order to make risk management more attractive, without leading to additional expenditure – the normal programming. For the rural development programmes, the legal proposal for the post-2020 common agricultural policy currently debated in the trilogue negotiations delivers on the needs, risk management and use of innovative tools to be included in the preparation of the CAP strategy plans. Farmers increasingly face the consequences of the climate and biodiversity crisis. It is therefore crucial that the new CAP helps our farmers become more resilient.  As regards the last question: what action the Commission is planning to take in the field of research to improve the adaptation of crops to climate change? Research and innovation have a key role to play in helping permanent crops to adjust to climate change, including late frost. Research and innovation can contribute by developing adapted breeds that can better deal with the late frost. Both the framework programme for research and innovation and the CAP EIP-AGRI have contributed solutions to this important issue. This is no one-size-fits-all solution to this issue, but a large number of approaches that can fit specific crops and locations in the EU.  Several EU research and innovation projects have contributed to solving this issue. For instance, INNOVINE research and innovation project aimed at developing knowledge tools and genetic resources necessary to better adapt viticulture to climate change.  The EUBerry project developed a technical innovation to control spring frost with low water consumption. That will be a topic in the Horizon Europe work programme 2021-2022, which will deal with the development of adaptation strategies that can potentially bring additional solutions. On the site of the EIP-AGRI under the CAP, a focus group has dealt specifically with this issue in a very comprehensive manner in the fruit sector in 2019 and reviewed the various possible approaches to deal with it. A number of bottom-up projects, the so-called EIP-AGRI operational group, are focused on this issue.