Farmers’ organizations hope that consumers will also join the agricultural petition

He added: they want to achieve a real dialogue with the participation of Hungarian and V4 farmers and consumers. He emphasized that the area-based support planned to be changed is not free money, many regulations must be met in order for someone to participate in the support system. The new system would be income-based, “but it is a question of whose income counts, how to determine an income-based subsidy,” he added.

He called the document “Strategic dialogue of the common agricultural policy” a problem for farmers

He said that one-third of the EU budget, more than 380 billion euros, is the support for agriculture, the framework of the common agricultural policy, which the EU plans to transform, primarily targeting area-based support. Area-based subsidies are the backbone of domestic subsidies, affecting more than 162,000 family farmers, amounting to more than HUF 500 billion per year, he added, noting that very serious development opportunities have opened up thanks to joint agricultural policy and rural development resources, as well as co-financing by the Hungarian government. He also emphasized that nearly 5 million hectares are farmed in Hungary, and nearly 30 percent of all areas are still environmentally conscious and/or ecologically farmed, and Hungarian farmers are able to comply with the regulations.

András Tibor Cseh, Secretary General of Hungarian Farmers’ Associations and Farmers’ Cooperatives (Magosz), spoke about the planned transformation of the agricultural support system

He said: no one has described specific numbers yet, but it is certain that many fewer people will receive less money. He explained: as of 2027, according to the intention of the EU leaders, Ukraine will join the union, which will increase the expenditure side, while the income side will not. At the same time, in 2027, a joint issue bond of 30 billion euros will expire, which will also increase the expenditure side, which is why agricultural subsidies would be reduced. He recalled that 10 years ago a change of direction took place in Hungary, a model based on family farms was launched, the results of which are already visible, the strengthening of family farms is clearly confirmed in terms of both land use and subsidies. Ten years ago, half of the land was used by companies and economic associations, this is already two-thirds to one-third for the benefit of individual and family farms – said the general secretary, emphasizing that the most important pillar of family farms is land-based subsidies, “if this pillar were to be removed from the machinery, the ship would sink irretrievably”. There are no such subsidies in South America, Ukraine, North Africa, or Turkey, but there are no regulations either, he said. According to the general secretary’s assessment, land-based subsidies mean competitiveness for Hungarian farmers, changing them from 2027 would bankrupt family farms, which is why the petition was launched. At the press conference, Balázs Csáki, chairman of NAK Nógrád county, chairman of the Magosz Nógrád County Young Farmers Association, described the new common agricultural policy strategic dialogue on the EU’s table as: it is neither a strategy nor a dialogue, its authors are not experts in the field. Mihály Varga, the county president of Magosz Nógrád, expressed his opinion that all farmers should sign the petition if they think about how they will get support in the next period, how they will compete with goods coming from Ukraine or South America.

MTI