European farming support plans for 2014 at last seem to be addressing problems that have been ignored for years, such as the huge handouts to already wealthy agri-businesses
by NORMAN DUNN
It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like the era of Europe’s big farming businesses getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual support – whether they need it or not – is about to end.
Arable automation has really arrived with the introduction of a tractor that can handle 24-foot cultivation tools with no one in the cab. The catch: a manned tractor has to work alongside
by NORMAN DUNN
For years now, we’ve been promised large-scale automatic systems for cultivation. There have been plenty of smaller field robots – for soil testing, for instance. In fact, innovative self-driving machines are introduced almost every year now that satellite navigation is here to stay. But a full-blooded system of 500-h.p. or more hasn’t managed to hit the headlines.
Now, it’s with us. A tractor that can handle big, 24-foot cultivation tools with no one in the cab. What a time saver! What a boost to work capacity out on the fields!
Farmers who changed housing systems to conform with EU welfare guidelines have ended up with higher costs, while others have continued with their about-to-be-banned Eurocages
by NORMAN DUNN
European farmers who accepted the need to change animal housing systems at the start of the millennium have ended up paying heavily for their move away from dry sow stalls and battery cages for layers.
The sad fact is that, more than a decade later, the welfare pioneers are still pretty much on their own. And thousands of hog and egg producers who carried on with cheaper, and often more efficient, production systems outside European Union (EU) welfare guidelines remain in profitable production.
From Serbia to Wales, incentives ranging from support for a new house through to improved genetics for dairy cows are being offered to farmers to stop the drift from the land.
by NORMAN DUNN
A phrase you’ll come across a lot when reading about European agriculture is “drift from the land.”
This is not just a farming problem. Local politicians worry about it, too – as well as the mostly elderly people left in dwindling country communities. There, the services once taken for granted, such as primary schools, grocery stores, clinics, public transport services or that lifeline for almost every countryside driver, the friendly neighbourhood auto workshop, are disappearing fast.
Farm-slanted information technology, computer control and intelligent electronic integration between machines are the focus at this major machinery show, all with the aim of less downtime, more job efficiency and lower inputs all round
by NORMAN DUNN
Once again, the world of farm machinery approaches its biggest event – Agritechnica 2011 in Hanover, Germany – with 2,300 exhibitors from 46 countries presenting the latest in agricultural equipment. Bigger, wider, with more acre-eating capacity. These, of course, are the headlines at every Agritechnica, and most other farm shows.
This south German hog farmer is making more money turning manure in to biogas, heat and pelleted compost than he is producing pigs
by NORMAN DUNN
People say it’s a sign of the time in European livestock farming that chronically low margins are forcing farmers to look for added-value opportunities. That’s the reason why farm gate stores and snack bars are sprouting along just about every main road.
Catalonia’s Institute for Research & Technology in Agriculture & Food (IRTA) has some of the best facilities in Europe for testing cow performance. Results from thousands of milkers can help producers develop the most efficient feeding regime for their herds
by NORMAN DUNN
Prof. Alex Bach must have one of the biggest outdoor testing facilities in the world. This dairy expert with the Catalonian IRTA organization works closely with the French/Spanish La Pirenaica dairy farmer co-operative.
European policy makers are entering a phase of high-pressure programs to save the environment and many of the schemes are aimed straight at farmers
by NORMAN DUNN
British farmers are getting the chance of going back to school. It’s all part of Europe’s current program to save the environment and our climate. The European Union (EU) wants more natural habitats preserved out in the countryside. Most of all, of course, it wants drastic reductions in climate-changing gas emissions.
Farmers are responsible for much of the European countryside, says the EU parliament and agriculture produces a substantial amount of greenhouse gases. So it stands to reason that farmers are also responsible for a considerable amount of global warming, too.
Financial worries caused by this year’s spiralling fuel prices are just one of the worries that Europe’s agricultural sector faces. For many, an even bigger problem is on the horizon: who’s going to take over the business?
by NORMAN DUNN
By mid-March farmers here in Europe were learning fast that the apparently far-off Arab uprisings, particularly the one on Libya, were nearer to home after all. Spring cultivations and sowing suddenly became much more expensive as fuel prices shot up.
Amalgamation is continuing apace among dairy processors, but one Swedish co-operative is showing that it’s possible to compete
by NORMAN DUNN
Like everywhere else, Europe is the scene of large-scale amalgamations within the dairy sector. With around a million dairy farmers supplying processors with some 135 billion litres of milk, 14 of the world’s top 20 milk processors are at home here. And they’re continually growing.
In 2009, Campina and Friesland Foods in the Netherlands merged to form FrieslandCampina, the fourth largest processor in the world with 15,300 supplying farmers in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium delivering 10.8 billion kilograms of milk.