00:00Farmer groups are furious about rising energy and fertiliser costs.
00:04Since the war in Iran and high gas prices, fertilisers are becoming very expensive to produce
00:09and farmers were hoping for serious support from Brussels.
00:13Now, the European Commission will come out with the Fertiliser Action Plan next Tuesday,
00:18but the leaked version so far has not impressed farmer groups.
00:21For more, we can bring in now Maximiliano Gian Santi, that's the president of COPA,
00:25a group that represents no less than 22 million farmers all across Europe.
00:31So thank you so much for joining us. Good morning to you.
00:34And tell us first your thoughts on the leaked version of this draft Fertiliser Action Plan
00:39that will come out next Tuesday here in Brussels.
00:42Hello, good morning. The situation in the country is serious and critical.
00:48We have seen a significant increase in fertilisers and energy costs.
00:52In particular, on the fertiliser side, the price of urea has passed from 300 euros per ton to 1,000
00:59euros per ton.
01:01So the farmers are really, really tough. The situation is not so good.
01:06The first leaks on the action plan on next week is not what we expect, but it's leaks.
01:13So we have to see. We have three clear requests to the Commission.
01:19First of all, to suspend the seed bump tax.
01:22The seed bump tax is another cost for the consumers because the farmers must pay for this year
01:29more or less 1 billion euros more just in taxes.
01:33And we will arrive at 3.4 billion euros in the next year.
01:38So much money for farmers.
01:40Second one, more flexibility in the use of the Nitric Directive.
01:46In this moment, we have to use all what we have inside of our farms.
01:51Why we have to go on the market to buy and spend so much money.
01:55Third, to have a temporary removal of MFN tariffs on duties on the fertilisers imports.
02:03It's very important. Why? Because the risk is to have increasingly prices in the cost for farmers.
02:12And that means the farmers are going to switch to change their program.
02:18The FAO says we are on face on an agri-shot and agri-food inflation.
02:24And that is what we don't want to have.
02:27Well, indeed, that was my next question for consumers.
02:29What's at stake here for them?
02:31Could we be facing food shortages, in your view?
02:35The risk is to have an increasing price on the food, yes.
02:39What we saw in the past that, for example, in the Ukrainian war in 2022,
02:48later, six to nine months, we had a seriously increasing in the price of the food.
02:55And the risk is to have the same thing also this time.
02:57So the time to act is now.
03:00And this is why we make pressure on the commissioner.
03:04The farmers is not just an expended money for commission.
03:11It's food security.
03:12And the food security is what the European citizens want by the farmers.
03:16So you've got three very clear demands there for the European Commission.
03:19But of course, you won't get exactly what you want.
03:21Do you think the commission might meet you here in the middle?
03:23Have you high expectations ahead of Tuesday's proposal?
03:27I don't know.
03:28Let's see.
03:29The expectations are very, very high because the situation is really critical.
03:34There is a lot of farmers that are using less fertilizers.
03:37That means we have less production on the next summer on wheat, for example.
03:43The wheat is at the basis for bread or pasta.
03:46And the risk is that the farmers on the next September are going to have different choices
03:52on the next sowing time.
03:54Okay.
03:55Thank you so much for that.
03:56We'll check in again with you, of course, next Tuesday.
