Farm Payments in the EU – their Distribution and Justification

Posted in: Economics by admin on January 1, 2009 | No Comments

This paper provides an overview of the development of past and present research and findings on the distributional aspects of direct payments. Used are the theory of federal fiscal relations to identify the policy agendas that should be handled at the EU level, at national levels, and at sub-national levels. It is then analysed how measures of concentration are affected if the criteria of direct payments are changed. Given the results of our simulations it is evident that changing the rules on the allocation of direct payments as the Commission suggested in the ‘health check’ process will affect the distribution. The interesting finding is that changes of the distribution within member states are happening ‘relatively’ easy while the relative ranking of concentration between member states is relatively stable. Only in a scenario of minimum payments of 500 € per holding and year the ranking of concentration between member states changes significantly. Currently CAP payments are hardly motivated by distributive considerations alone. Currently
they are justified to ease the process of integration for the agricultural community of
Member States that have recently entered the EU. Another purpose is to facilitate structural
adjustment of farms that are exposed to freer market conditions after decades of CAP interventions.
Moreover, as direct payments are only granted if standards of good agricultural and
environmental condition (“cross compliance”) are met, such payments have an environmental
facet as well. The current debate about strengthened modulation or abandoning the historical
model provides possibilities to improve the distribution of direct payments. At the same time,
taking into account the principle of “fiscal equivalence” could give guidance for
the question which of the issues currently addressed by direct payments should be addressed at
EU level or at the level of Member States. Income goals and environmental objectives are
brought forward to justify direct payments financed by the CAP budget. From a ‘fiscal equivalence’
perspective both objectives should be handled by Member States, and financed as well.

Swine Economics Report

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USDA’s latest survey of the U.S. swine herd said the market herd was down 1.9% on June 1 and
the breeding herd was down 2.7% compared to 12 months earlier. The total inventory of hogs
was down 2.0%. The breeding inventory was smaller and the market hog inventory was a bit
larger than the average of trade forecasts. Hog slaughter will be down 3-4% this year and hopefully even more in 2010. Unfortunately, there is no end in sight to the string of financial losses plaguing producers.

Effect of the duration of commercial journeys between rearing farms and growing–finishing farms on the physiological stress response of weaned piglets

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The aim of this study was to determine the effect of journey duration, in commercial transports from rearing to growing–finishing farms, on the stress levels of piglets using a combination of physiological welfare indicators. According to the results obtained by means of different physiological indicators, commercial transports from rearing farms to growing–finishing farms are generally a stressful event for weaned piglets. Nevertheless, the journey duration did not show a consistent effect on piglets, it therefore being possible that their response to transport differs from that of older, slaughter pigs.

Seroprevalence and risk factors for the presence of ruminant pestiviruses in the Dutch swine population

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In this study, the seroprevalence against bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) and Border disease virus (BDV) in two categories of swine, sows and finishing pigs was determined. In sows, the seroprevalence against BVDV was 2.5% on the animal level, and 11.0% on herd level. In finishing pigs these prevalences were 0.42% and 3.2%, respectively. Antibodies against BDV were found in three sows only.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03781135

Genetic analyses of piglet survival and individual birth weight on first generation data of a selection experiment for piglet survival under outdoor conditions

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The first objective of the research was to estimate the heritabilities and genetic correlations of piglet survival and
birth weight of pigs kept under outdoor conditions. The second objective was to examine the influence of considering weights of stillborn piglets on the genetic parameters of survival traits and birth weight. In the third objective, the
influence of litter size on genetic parameters of survival traits and birth weight was studied. The results of the study showed that piglet survival at birth, at day 1 and during the entire nursing period can be attributed to genetic effects of the piglets, which can be efficiently used to improve their survival. These direct genetic effects explained a substantial higher proportion on the phenotypic variation of piglet survival under outdoor conditions than expected based on studies using data from indoor herds. Genetically, peri- and postnatal survival traits seem to be affected by different genes or gene effects, as indicated by correlations of less than or equal to 0.4. Therefore, a multiple trait model treating at least peri- and postnatal survival as different traits is recommended. The substantial direct genetic effects of birth weight are of great interest to be exploited for correlated improvement of piglet survival. The correlations of direct genetic effects of piglet survival traits and birth weight were all favourable but low. However, even low genetic correlations will have a substantial effect on piglet survival because birth weight showed an almost three times higher heritability and can be measured on the continuous scale. Its inclusion will therefore result in considerably more response to selection than the less informative categorical survival traits (Meuwissen et al., 1995). Recording of weights of stillborn piglets is shown to be informative because it increased the favourable correlation among survival traits as well as their correlations with birth weight. Furthermore, the use of birth weight together with survival traits in the multiple trait model provided important information for the estimation of survival traits.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/livsci

Effects of multiple concurrent stressors on rectal temperature, blood acid-base status, and longissimus muscle glycolytic potential in market-weight pigs

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Sixty-four market-weight barrows and gilts were used in a split-plot design with a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement
of treatments: 1) handling intensity (gentle vs. aggressive), 2) transport floor space (0.39 vs. 0.49 m2/pig), and 3) distance moved during handling (25 vs. 125 m) to determine the effects of multiple concurrent stressors on metabolic responses. It was concluded that the stressors evaluated had additive effects on several indicators of metabolic stress responses in finishing pigs.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

The effects of dietary chromium(III) picolinate on growth performance, blood measurements, and respiratory rate in pigs kept in high and low ambient temperature

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Three experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of thermal stress and dietary Cr on growth performance and physiological variables in weanling pigs. The results indicate that growth performance is affected by thermal stress and plasma cortisol is decreased by heat stress, but these effects are not moderated by dieatry Cr.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

The addition of ground wheat straw as a fiber source in the gestation diet of sows and the effect on sow and litter performance for three successive parities

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This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of adding 13.35% ground wheat straw to a corn-soybean meal gestation diet for 3 successive gestation-lactation cycles compared with sows fed a control diet without straw. In conclusion, when the daily intake of the basal gestation diet was equalized for both treatments, the addition of 13.35% ground wheat straw to the gestation diet improved sow and litter performance, with increases in litter size and
total litter weight at birth and weaning compared with control sows and litters.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

Effects of continual fluctuation in feed intake on growth performance response and carcass fat-to-lean ratio in grower-finisher pigs

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An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of continual fluctuations in feed intake on grower-finisher pig growth performance and carcass fat-to-lean ratio (F:L). The results indicated that continual fluctuation in feed intake either every other day or every 3 d had minimal effects on growth and carcass F:L compared with pigs fed the same restricted amount throughout the experiment.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

An evaluation of four candidate genes for use in selection programmes aimed at increased intramuscular fat in Duroc swine

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A sufficient level of intramuscular fat (IMF) is needed to enhance consumer acceptance of pork products, and is currently receiving greater attention within swine genetic improvement programmes. Biological candidate genes implicated to play a role in adipogenesis were investigated within two different lines of purebred Duroc pigs.

For more information the full article can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1439-0388/issues