bottles of milk at £5bn

[james armstrong]

Found - £5 billion .

 £3.4billion CAP cheques distributed to
landowners, food` processors, agribusinesses and farmers each year is only the start.   I’ve just discovered another  £5bn handouts  restricted to dairy farmers .  This is the milk quota which was a 1984 (sic)
EU  invention to stop the overproduction
of milk .   

One of its unforeseen and
(unintended?) consequences following a court case, is that UK farmers can sell the  quota which was allocated to them freely .

 

The current value quoted by
one broker for quota is at a record 80p per litre. Since the UK output of milk is   

Some 6-7 billion litres pa  this means a handout to farmers of £5
billion. (a one off donation)     

The figures may be wrong – annual
output  and  current quota price can vary. but the scale of
the handout and its effect are correct.  

 

Brokers’ web sites offer
to  trade Single Farm Payments too –  the right to receive annual CAP cheques from
RPA .   I don’t know how many £billion
these are worth to  landowners,   At a multiple of five this could represent another
 £17billion windfall  

 

Oh, and just when I thought I
had plumbed the depth of  government  generosity to land-owners etc   there comes the other example of largesse
targeted to the privileged one per cent. 

Tariffs are imposed on  food imports to UK and subsidies 
paid to food exporters – This could account for another  tranche of £billions ensuring higher farm
gate prices .   Here it is households who
pay unknowingly through higher food prices than necessary.

This makes a mockery of the
Farming Today and NFU propaganda that we enjoy a cheap food policy. 

 

So here are annual £3bn CAP
payments ,  tariffs on food imports, and £billion
quota entitlements to  dairy producers ,
and all unknown to most of us.

 

I like the cheek of farmers
already in receipt of CAP welfare cheques, sometimes of £1million each  annually, then selling on the right to receive
them.  

Maybe we should make unemployment
benefit and old age pensions  and child
benefit transferable too?

I don’t think so .   Lets just tell everyone about the  idiocy of CAP and the threat to
democracy  in keeping it secret.   James     

   

 		 	   		  
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