Economic crises threaten farm reform

Plans to cut the CAP bill are being put at risk by the Asian and Russian collapses, writes Myles NeliganA LONG way from the boardrooms of Frankfurt and London, where institutional investors are nervously calculating the cost of the Asian economic collapse, EU farmers are watching developments in the Far East with an equally worried eye.Lucrative meat and grain exports to Asia have slumped, and the subsequent Russian crisis has deprived the Union of its largest agricultural export markets overnight.More concerned still are European Commission agriculture officials who are slowly realising that the 'Asian 'flu' may well sabotage their meticulously laid plans for reforming the 40-billion-ecu Common Agricultural Policy.A much overlooked aspect of the Commission's CAP reform strategy is the extent to which its success depends on strong and growing export sales for key agricultural commodities.