EU measures do not match the needs of Icelandic farmers

Trausti Hjálmarsson, chairman of the Icelandic Farmers’ Association, said the country’s farmers should examine the differences between Iceland’s agricultural system and the European Union’s system, mbl.is reports. A seven-member committee appointed by the association has produced a detailed report on the EU’s agricultural system and the possible impact of Icelandic membership on domestic agriculture.

Speaking at an association seminar at the Nordica hotel in Reykjavík on Friday, Hjálmarsson said the two systems and the interests underlying them differed substantially.

“Support for Icelandic agriculture is based on production. It is intended to promote and strengthen food production. The EU support system is different, with the main emphasis on payments linked to land, environmental conditions, difficult farming conditions, investment, the entry of new farmers and rural development,” he said.

Hjálmarsson said European agriculture was facing difficulties, with farmers dealing with crop failures and various setbacks caused by drought and extreme heat. Experts suggested such events would become more frequent and severe in the coming years, he said.

“The European Union will have to respond in some way and adapt its systems to this new reality. It is impossible to say what impact that adaptation could have on Icelandic agriculture, but I find it difficult to see how measures intended to support Spanish and French farmers in their struggle with drought would correspond to the needs and interests of Icelandic agriculture,” he said.

Hjálmarsson said Icelandic agriculture faced genuine opportunities if the authorities were prepared to pursue them with farmers. Those opportunities could easily be lost if the features that made Icelandic agriculture unique were sacrificed, or if farmers, food production companies and the Icelandic authorities failed to work together on an ambitious long-term development strategy based on the circumstances of Icelandic farmers and food producers.

He described agriculture as a foundation on which many other parts of Icelandic society depended, with economic, social, cultural and environmental importance. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East had shown how events far away could have significant effects in Iceland, he said, with prices for essential goods such as steel, oil, fertiliser and food rising sharply and then falling.

“We cannot produce steel or oil here, at least not at present, but we can produce food here, and we do it very well,” Hjálmarsson said. He added that many people had said agricultural issues mattered to them and could even determine their position on EU membership.