Deal reached on Mediterranean farm reform

After 20 hours of negotiation, agriculture ministers early this morning agreed to reform the EU’s olive oil, cotton and tobacco sectors.

According to reports, the deal will mean that some subsidies are no longer linked to production, theoretically reducing incentives for overproduction.

Concerns over the social consequences of funding tobacco production and harming cotton producers from developing countries appear to have marginally outweighed the economic interests of France, Gre...