[Binky Bainbridge]

It's interesting to see such information, something we're denied in the European Union (EU).

The EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a $60 Billion a year subsidy regime that hits European shoppers in their pockets and strikes a blow against agricultural development in Africa and developing countries. The CAP encourages over-production that has two adverse effects on Africa and developing countries, (1) these states cannot export their crops due to the far more competitively priced (and heavily subsidised) EU produce, and, (2) the EU producers then dump their extra production onto African and developing markets thereby destroying local producers in their own lands.

At the same time governments of developing countries come under intense pressure from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to scrap their own tariffs and subsidies as part of free trade rules!

The CAP costs each British household $1,650 a year extra on grocery bills.

The system is non-accountable to the public - Every year EU auditors refuse to "sign-off" the accounts because, (quote), "the vast majority of the payment budget was again materially affected by errors of legality and regularity" - in other words, they were riddled with fraud!

THIS HAPPENS EVERY YEAR - and which area is deemed the worst - the CAP!

This is what CAP does:

The effects

* SUGAR
Farmers in Europe are guaranteed a price for their sugar which is three times higher than the world price. Mozambique loses more than £70m a year because of restrictions on importing into Europe coupled with the dumping of cheap exports at its door, while 12,000 workers in Swaziland have lost their jobs because the local industry cannot compete.

* WHEAT
Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal have been hit by cheap, subsidised imports from Europe while the £30 paid to British farmers for every tonne of wheat they produce inflates the price of breakfast cereals, bread and other goods in Britain.

* MILK
Thousands of tonnes of surplus powdered milk from the EU are dumped in West African countries such as Mali at a cheaper price than local cattle owners can sell at, holding economic growth back. The dairy subsidies have driven farmers in India and Jamaica out of business.

* CHICKEN
Our preference for chicken breasts and legs means that thighs and wings are often frozen and exported to Africa where they are sold for rock-bottom prices. Chicken farmers in Senegal and Ghana used to supply most of the country's demand - now their market share has shrunk to 11 per cent because subsidised imports are 50 per cent cheaper.

So if you think it's bad in the US, try Europe!!!