Blair House Agreement

The Blair House Agreement is an agreement concluded in 1992 within the framework of the Uruguay Round between the European Community and the United States regarding an upper limit for the production of by-products from the cultivation of renewable raw materials on set-aside land. The upper limit is set at one million tonnes of soy meal equivalents, which corresponds to around 1.4 million tonnes of rapeseed cake . If the upper limit is exceeded, the excess quantities may not be used for human or animal nutrition.

In order to avoid overproduction in the agricultural sector, producers can set aside between 10 and 33% of their acreage, i. H. plants that are used for food production are no longer grown here. In return, the producers receive fixed premiums. However, renewable raw materials that are not allowed to be used in the food sector can be grown on set-aside areas. When processing rapeseed or sunflowers, for example, by-products are generated that can be used as animal feed, among other things. The aim of the Blair House Agreement was to prevent non-food cultivation from reducing the EC's import requirements for oilseeds, which would primarily affect the United States with its soy exports. The Blair House Agreement was in effect up to and including the 2001 harvest.