Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22 features a US farmer who is paid not to grow alfalfa by the state. He uses this money to buy more land on which he also does not grow alfalfa. He reinvests his subsidies from this land in yet more land and soon he is not growing more alfalfa than anyone else in the country. Sounds nonsensical? EU wine policy is heading in the same direction.
For decades, the EU has regulated the wine industry and paid French farmers to produce as much wine as possible, says Conal Walsh in The Observer. The glut of cheap wine is bought up by Brussels and turned into vinegar or fuel. But increasing competition from non-EU producers is turning that glut into a flood. Things are getting so bad that EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel is looking into ‘bold reform’ of the industry. And the nature of that reform?”Fischer Boel has indicated that she may recommend using subsidies to encourage producers to reduce their output,” says Walsh. ”Critics argue that Brussels could cut overproduction at a stroke by letting failing French vineyards go to the wall.” Those critics presumably include anybody more familiar with basic economics than the EU.
UK vineyards are especially irate. They don’t get subsidies, as the UK is not a ‘wine-producing nation’ – but would still be subject to any new production caps.