Luxembourg Presents 1st Measures to Tackle Impact of Russia-Ukraine War on Agriculture

In the context of the current crisis in agricultural markets, linked to the Russia-Ukraine war, Luxembourg's Minister of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development, Claude Haagen, recently met with representatives of the pig meat and cereals sectors.

During these discussions, which took place on 15 and 22 March 2022 respectively, Minister Haagen carried out an in-depth analysis of the market situation, taking into account the fact that the war in Ukraine has had a considerable impact on the entire national sector. This includes soaring energy prices, an increase in global prices of cereals and in particular animal feed (Ukraine being a major supplier to the European Union) and price increases and delays in the supply of synthetic fertiliser (shortages not excluded).

Minister Haagen presented the conclusions of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council, held in Brussels on Monday 21 March 2022, to his interlocutors in the cereals sector. In the immediate future, Luxembourg will implement the authorisation from the European Commission to temporarily use fallow land for grazing, the production of protein crops or cereals;

Following his meeting with the pig meat sector, Luxembourg's Agriculture Minister presented a third support plan for companies in difficulty in this sector in the form of non-refundable capital aid. This aid will also be subject to various conditions, in particular a decline in turnover compared to the pre-COVID-19 crisis period.

Moreover, the European Commission plans to trigger financial aid for producers via the agricultural crisis reserve under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). State aid for the agricultural sector is also envisaged for agricultural inputs and energy in the new temporary crisis framework. 

With the agricultural markets situation being extremely volatile as a result of the war in Ukraine, Minister Haagen specified that he intended to maintain a permanent exchange with the agricultural sector and with that of agri-food processing in order to to be able to react quickly if necessary.