Coping with Crisis Risk in European Agriculture

This article summarises the major findings of an international workshop on coping with crisis risk in European agriculture. The workshop took place as part of an EU sixth framework project entitled: Income stabilisation: Design and economic impact of risk management tools for European agriculture. The meeting focused on ex ante crisis risk, which is defined as a foreseeable and predictable risk that potentially hits many farms at the same time. More specifically, the workshop focused on technology risks - such as food safety and livestock epidemic risks - and weather risks. State of the art discussions pointed towards little attention being paid to crisis risk management in EU agriculture and the incompleteness of risk management instruments available. Proposed solutions, although not entirely agreed upon by all workshop participants, envision some form of public–private partnership. For technology risks, which are rather'manageable' by individual farmers, partnerships are recommended to be a mix of regulation, risk mitigation and non-subsidised market instruments with a clear focus on incentives for risk prevention. For weather risks, these partnerships include financial aspects whereby governments offer free cover for the catastrophic part of losses. The Income Stabilisation project will integrate workshop recommendations with wider research project activities and will eventually advise on prospective risk management instruments for various farm types and regions throughout the European Union.