EU allows member states to boost farmer payments after protests

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union member states can increase the funds they pay to farmers, the European Commission said on Friday, after protests by farmers earlier in the year forced policymakers to scale back climate rules.

The Commission said it would allow EU member states to pay higher advances of Common Agriculture Policy funds to farmers, which would allow them to receive up to 70% of direct payments in advance starting in October, and up to 85% in advance payments for area and animal-based interventions under rural development.

Such payments are currently 50% and 75%, respectively.

"EU farmers continue to face liquidity problems, notably due to extreme weather events which have had an impact on yields in recent years, as well as high interest rates on European financial markets and high prices of agricultural inputs and commodities," the commission said in a statement.

The Commission has taken similar measures before, notably in 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this year, farmers blockaded roads to demand action on low incomes, cheap food imports, burdensome regulations and unfair competition from abroad.

Key portions of EU policy have been impacted as Brussels seeks to assuage farmers.

The EU withdrew a law to lower the use of pesticides, delayed a target for farmers to leave some land fallow to increase biodiversity and discarded a goal to reduce farming emissions from its 2040 climate roadmap.

(Reporting by Makini Brice, Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Louise Heavens)