EU Commission wants to cushion fertilizer costs

Europe's farmers are confronted with high fertilizer prices. In view of this, the EU Commission wants to use 500 million euros to provide additional support for farmers.

To this end, it wants to activate the agricultural reserve of the Common Agricultural Policy, which, according to EU Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen, still contains a good 200 million euros. The Commission is also proposing that the Member States and the European Parliament increase the reserve by 300 million euros in order to "provide targeted and exceptional support to farmers", as stated in the proposal for the amending budget.

The EU Commission announced a support package in May. How much additional money is to flow to farmers has not yet been revealed.

Focus on food supply

Hansen is concerned about the sowing of winter crops. So far, despite the market situation, there have been few problems because farmers had largely built up their fertilizer reserves last autumn.

But now, in view of the prices, some farmers are considering whether to plant or instead take part in an environmental programme where they might get more money without fertilizer. "And that is of course a huge threat to our food supply," Hansen told the German Press Agency.

The price of nitrogen fertilizer in particular is heavily dependent on natural gas and has risen due to the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. With various projects, the EU Commission wants to secure the supply of affordable fertilizers in the short and long term, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dependence on imports. Among other things, it wants to provide incentives for more fertilizers with organic fertilizers.

To enable farmers to obtain certain imported fertilizers more cheaply, the standard tariffs on imports of several important nitrogen fertilizers and intermediate products for their production have also been suspended until the end of May 2027. According to the European Commission, the measure will save around 60 million euros in import duties.