Letter from Europe: Europe gets rid of the acre - but hangs on to the pound

Sunday, November 2, 2008

A uniform system of weights and measures makes good sense within a common market. But European lawmakers have reckoned without minor rebellions on almost every farm

by NORMAN DUNN

It had to come. The European agricultural administration in Brussels has long moaned about the continued existence of "archaic" units of measurement in various member countries.

As always, it seems, the main opponents of European "thinking" can be found in Britain and Ireland with their acres, pints and gallons, not to mention miles. In fact, there were a lot more "non-European" units in regular use when Britain and neighbouring Ireland first came into the European Union (EU) back in 1973. At that time ounces, pounds, stones – even hundredweights – were bought and sold daily.

But everyone could tell that Brussels wasn't going to put up with that situation for very long. The metric system was more or less rushed in and, by 1995, the European parliament passed a law stipulating that all goods sold everywhere had to display metric weights and measures. 

Even then, though, they rightly feared a hefty reaction from further west and added the codicil that the so-called imperial measurements – ounces, pounds, feet and inches and so on – would be allowed to continue for the time being. These old measurements, along with acres, square yards and running feet, were meant to be edged out by 2009.

But the retail trade, and of course the brewing sector with its pints, have put up such a struggle in the meantime that the latest news from Brussels is that the administrators are going to allow imperial measurements to continue, along with metric measurements, on the same label.

Acres were going to be allowed a reprieve as well. But it seems that at least the British government, never a great supporter of its farming sector, has quietly folded without much of a fight. Its agreement that acres should go now in favour of hectares was almost furtively signed at "a low-key meeting" by a junior British minister in Brussels during the summer recess.

Then the opposition woke up. This autumn, other politicians are kicking up plenty of dust about this "pointless interference" by the continentals. "The government needs to think again and insist that we must keep our right to use our ancient, traditional measure of land…" warned Mark Francois, European shadow minister in Britain's Conservative Opposition.

But as someone who regularly travels from one European country to another and spends most of my time amongst farmers on these trips, I can put assure Francois that the ancient measures will survive. It doesn't matter where you are in Europe, farmers have kept up traditional, if unofficial, forms of measurement.

The interesting thing is that many of these units are similar from country to country. The first joint of the thumb is more or less an inch in Britain and the German farmer uses the same rough measure and calls it a zoll.

A pound means 0.45 of a kilogram on the British Isles and Ireland and on the continent a pfund and livre is still used to describe almost the same weight of half a kilogram over 200 years after Napoleon's bureaucrats tried to banish the unit during the emperor's European campaign.

In France, the old measurement for what is now 100 kilograms of grain was a quintal and this is still used back on the farm, just as is the British hundredweight. 

Complicated? Just wait! There's an "old quintal" too. This refers to 100 pounds or just 50 kilograms. The German equivalent is the zentner and this has always applied to 100 pounds. When a German farmer wants to describe 100 kilograms (to someone other than an EU official, that is) the term used is "doppelzentner."

Meanwhile, 100 kilograms in Austria is simply a single zentner, while the Italians – and the Russians too – prefer to talk about new quintals (equalling 100 kilograms).
Please don't get me wrong here.

The vast majority of inhabitants in most of Europe have changed over almost completely to metric measurement. While Britain is sticking in her heels to a certain extent, even there many of the gas pumps measure in litres instead of gallons now. Ireland has also officially discarded the traditional mile for kilometres and is even now trying to insert the new distances on its road signs.

But neither country is even thinking about changing from pints of beer to half litres. You might get a half litre when ordering up a drink from Norway to southern Spain. But if you want to get old-fashioned, ask for a Mass in Germany. The term may be many centuries old, but the bartender will know immediately what you want and pour you a litre of the best brew. And, in some areas of Germany asking for a pint (or pintgen) will also be immediately recognised, although this is not almost a half litre as in Britain and Ireland but only a quarter litre!

The truth is evident: most people are willing to adopt new measurements if it helps trade and commerce between countries. But, at the same time, many are obviously still uneasy about dropping the old terms completely.

And the different terms certainly have their psychological uses. Somehow, giving the last lactation as 18,700 pounds when selling a cow sounds so much better than just 8,500 kilograms! BF

Norman Dunn writes about European agriculture from Germany.