Drought Puts Europe’s Crops Under Pressure

Drought is again hitting farmers across Europe, reducing crop yields and increasing pressure on national governments and the EU to provide financial support.

Several countries are calling for changes to EU agricultural aid rules, arguing that the current system is too slow and poorly suited to increasingly frequent extreme weather, according to Politico.

The Czech Republic recorded its driest spring in more than 60 years, with some corn fields producing too little to provide sufficient feed for livestock. In Hungary, this year’s harvest is expected to be 10%–20% below the five-year average.

France is also facing severe losses. The US Department of Agriculture forecasts its smallest corn crop in more than 30 years, with production expected to fall by about 26% from last year as drought and extreme heat damage yields.

Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania are calling for the EU’s future agricultural crisis fund to cover weather-related losses automatically. They also want aid to become available when crop losses reach 20%, with some payments made in advance.

The European Commission has warned that even the proposed €900m ($1.05bn) annual agricultural reserve would be insufficient to cover increasingly severe weather-related losses.

European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen has instead called for greater investment in irrigation, water infrastructure and insurance to make European agriculture more resilient to extreme weather.

(est, politico)