Brussels sees it as difficult to prevent farmers from selling their food below cost

The European Commission wants to prevent farmers from being forced to sell their food below its production cost, but "how to do so is quite complicated," said Pierre Bascou, deputy director general of the European Commission's DG AGRI at the Fertilizers Europe Conference, according to the Euroactiv website.

Asked at the event about the feasibility of banning sales below cost, a measure adopted by some Member States, including Spain in its Law 12/2003, on measures to improve the functioning of the food chain, and defended by professional agricultural organisations, Bascou warned that such a measure would affect the entire food chain and risk "undermining" the competitiveness of the sector.

According to the senior official of DG Agri, production costs vary from farm to farm, from sector to sector and from region to region," he said, but that "the EU Executive was investigating whether these prohibitions work at a national level."

Last March, in response to the wave of protests by farmers in almost all EU countries, the European Commission committed to evaluating the current Directive on unfair commercial practices in 2025 and proposing, if necessary, legislative changes if necessary.