37 Amendments of João FERREIRA related to 2013/2096(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas small agricultural holdings are disappearing in a good number of Member States;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas the current decline in the area covered by grassland stems principally from farmers switching from livestock to cereals;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas small-scale farming is an alternative to industrialised farming, which is energy- and water-hungry and destroys the environment and jobs;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the crucial roles played by small agricultural holdings are not only production-related in that such holdings also play key roles in the delivery of public goods; whereas these include roles relating to nature and the countryside (helping maintain both the characteristic features of Europe’s countryside and biodiversity in rural areas), social roles (providing a livelihood for millions of people in Europe, preventing poverty and constituting a workforce reserve for industry and other sectors of the economy), and cultural roles (preserving fine traditions, customs and other non-material heritage and manufacturing regional and traditional products);
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas market price volatility is often made worse by intermediate buyers dictating prices, taking advantage of producer vulnerability;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas most of Europe’s small agricultural holdings only sell a small proportion of their goods on the market, or focus principally on subsistence farming; whereas, however, small-scale farming is of greater benefit to society in terms of impact on rural communities and on the environment;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas all small-scale farmers should have a decent income, earned primarily from selling their products;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas prices need to take account of production costs and of local conditions, with proper allowance being made for any natural or structural disadvantages;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas a broader approach is needed to address the problems of small agricultural holdings, and whereas the creation of non- agricultural jobs and provision of public services in rural areas isare vital for the development of those areas and for the future of small agricultural holdings;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas small agricultural holdings are not treated fairly under the common agricultural policy, and whereas the reasons for this include: the fact that the structure of the policy is principally based on surface area and past production levels, rather than on employment and the level of income; the fact that some Member States place minimum funding thresholds in the second pillar; and the Member States’ failure to bring in implementing measures that meet the needs of small agricultural holdings; the insistence on competitiveness as a target, understood as more and more intensive production, the option of not applying modulation, and the ceiling placed on Community support, redistributing the appropriations saved by small farmers;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas the granting of support not linked to production only favours large farms;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas because they are dispersed, the bargaining power of agricultural holdings in the food chain is far weaker than that of other participants in the market, and whereas this is particularly acute in the case of small agricultural holdings - a situation that has been aggravated by the dismantling of all the public structures set up to help them market their production;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas small agricultural holdings play a special role in domestic production and in strengthening the economy, maintaining the vitality of mountain areas, less-favoured areas and outlying regions;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas there are severe inequalities in the distribution of income support – between countries, producers and production sectors – as a result of the pressure from and interests of large countries, affecting both the overall budget and its distribution;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I b (new)
Recital I b (new)
Ib. whereas the main function of agriculture is food production, and whereas the destruction of production systems, which directly affects Member States with the weakest production systems, has significantly increased their food dependency and jeopardised their food sovereignty;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I c (new)
Recital I c (new)
Ic. whereas small agricultural holdings and family farming play a crucial role in terms of the need to halt and reverse the decline in the diversity of cultivated plant species and varieties and the erosion of the genetic base on which human and animal nutrition depends;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I d (new)
Recital I d (new)
Id. whereas market regulation instruments, such as quotas and production rights, are absolutely vital and should be adapted to each Member State on the basis of its food requirements and its comparative level of installed production capacity, to help the worst-off Member States to evolve;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the level of income and the living standards of families who make their living by working on small agricultural holdings are much lower than those of commercilarge-scale farmers or farmers employed in other sectors of the economy, not least because many local markets have been destroyed in favour of large distribution chains;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas forms of community ownership can play a significant role in complementing the income of small-scale farmers, particularly in some of the Member States, and the issue of farmers' income is the crucial factor in terms of improving the position of small-scale farming in the EU;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas the new CAP does not respond to the problems linked to the absence of remunerative prices for family agri-food production and smallholdings, or to the problem posed by large processing and marketing chains in the food sector, which exert huge commercial pressure to drive down production prices and crush small and medium-scale agricultural trade;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K b (new)
Recital K b (new)
Kb. whereas agricultural, social and tax authorities need to be given clear criteria for determining what is and what is not a small farm;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Takes the view that simply reducingit is damaging to establish a reduction in the number of small agricultural holdings ashould not be the main objective of restructuring, as this will not even boost the competitiveness of larger holdings; with this in mind, calls on the Member States to: come up with appropriate solutions and development models for smallholdings, taking account of the specific characteristics of farming in the country concerned and of regional variations; boost the competitiveness, viability and profitability of smallholdings; foster entrepreneurship; create jobs;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Supports an end to the subordination of agriculture and food production to the market and competition, and the existence of regulatory and market intervention mechanisms to prevent increased price volatility and concentration processes, which only a small number of businesses are able to survive;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Supports the need to counter intensive export models, giving priority to regional and local production and consumption, promoting a different energy-related and environmental rationale, and giving preference to the ownership of land by local communities as an effective way of guaranteeing food quality and security;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Considers that the concept of disadvantaged areas should take not only physical characteristics into account but also socioeconomic ones;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Believes that national support frameworks should include investment support programmes for small farmers, the percentage and value of which should be proportionate to their presence in the national agriculture of their country, with extremely simplified procedures;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Is very pleased that theAppreciates the establishment of a support scheme for small-scale farmers has been established under the first pillar of the CAP, but takes the view, nevertheless, insists that it is only the form of the transfer that has been simplified, whilst the low direct payment rates allow no room for development, and that these measures are still insufficient to improve the lot of smallholdings in the EU;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls for compulsory modulation and aid ceilings to be included in the finalisation of the CAP reform, starting at EUR 10 000 and gradually increasing up to 100 % for amounts over EUR 100 000, with the resources saved being used to guarantee a minimum payment of EUR 1000 to all farmers;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5e. Urges the Member States to consider measures to regulate the markets, in order to ensure that fair prices are paid to small farmers;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 g (new)
Paragraph 5 g (new)
5g. Recalls that public structures for product storage – such as silos, collective milking barns, slaughterhouses, refrigerated storage and dryers – have played an important part in guaranteeing small farmers’ incomes and calls for their reactivation;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 h (new)
Paragraph 5 h (new)
5h. Supports the creation of a public agricultural insurance policy, funded from the EU budget, in order to guarantee a minimum income for farmers affected by natural disasters, including forest fires, diseases and pests;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Deplores the unequal distribution of income support among countries, producers and products and demands an end to this situation before the close of the current multiannual financial framework;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Recommends to the Member States that they guarantee the provision of free, high-quality public services to rural areas, particularly in the areas of health, education and social security;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8d. Points out to Member States that it is important to support the existence of community-owned property;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 e (new)
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8e. Recommends the creation of a national preference scheme for Member States whose agri-food balance remains seriously and persistently in deficit, by establishing and employing a system of mandatory marketing quotas for national production, whereby imports would serve to supplement national production;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Urges that action be taken to promote the effective use of traditional agricultural varieties specific to certain regions, combating the export-led standardisation of agricultural production and intensive models of agriculture that result from current agricultural and trade policies, of which the CAP is an example, and encouraging sustainable small and medium-scale production linked to local and regional markets and consumption;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Calls for the public services and infrastructure required for the development of the farming sector and the survival of small farms to be maintained in all areas;