EU Agriculture is in crisis mode. And so is the CAP. For two years in a row, the CAP crisis reserve has been spent to help farmers deal with the adverse consequences of the invasion of Ukraine and climate change. At the same time, Member States are asking for reduced environmental obligations in 2024. What happened during this week’s AgriFish council CAP wise? We guide you through the updates. […]
Today, the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety (ENVI) finished voting on amendments to the Nature Restoration Law. No majority was found for the law as amended, as the vote was once again split 44-44. So what happened and what’s next? […]
Last week, we unveiled the draft regulation on NGTs (New Genomic Techniques) by the European Commission. What is being proposed exactly? And what are the first reactions? Let’s delve into a brief overview. […]
The transhumance is the pinnacle of Claire Jeannerat’s farming year, bringing with it a seasonal shift in her family’s home life. With the summer transhumance behind them, she sits down to catch her breath. The Swiss Shepherdess reflects on why her family has chosen to practice traditional pastoralism and to embrace the magic, the symbiosis and the sacrifices of this way of life. […]
The Nature Restoration Law (NRL) continues its perilous path towards enactment, surviving the first major hurdle at the Environment Committee in the European Parliament on the morning of today, Thursday 15th June. So what happened, and what’s next? […]
Good news! The Nature Restoration Law (NRL) won’t, can’t and couldn’t cause the abandonment of 10% of Europe’s perfectly good farmland. This is important to know in advance of the vote on the 15th in the European Parliament’s Environment Committee. If this committee doesn’t pass the compromise NRL text, its likely over. So if you are contacting MEPs on the ENVI Committee – or if indeed you are one of those 88 MEPs – rest assured. These is no land abandonment in the NRL. Explainer by Oliver Moore. […]
The struggle to cap and redistribute direct payments received by the largest landowners, to support smaller farms, thereby enabling a more divers and resilient rurality, has come up against the whole financial system in Denmark. So how did Denmark end up without capping or redistributive payments? And how could the Commission accept such a proposal? […]
MEPs from the Agri committee in the European Parliament have voted for complete rejection of the Nature Restoration Law (NRL). The vote was by a 2/3 majority – 30 for the rejection vs 16 against, with no abstentions. So what’s next? […]
Since the 2019 Communication on the European Green Deal, ARC2020’s CAP Strategic Plans project has provided consistent analysis on the CAP reform post-2022 and the design, negotiation and approval of National CAP Strategic Plans. For the years to come, we want to bring the project to the next phase, in a new context. This is why and how. Why do we need this critical action-research? The long road to the CAP Strategic Plans began in 2018, when three CAP legislative proposals were presented by the Juncker Commission to the EU co-legislators. The road was political, but also very technical. Since then, the CAP reform has witnessed the gradual dilution of the initial environmental and social equity ambitions. The alignment with the Green Deal has yet to come. Meanwhile, the previous Commission’s technical apparatus and power control has been reshuffled and facelifted in the so-called European CAP Network, Long-Term Visions, and Horizon 2020 projects. Outside the CAP, things have changed too. The war in Ukraine has fuelled a stale, polarised debate putting food security at odds […]
Inaugurating the 2023 programme of field visits, Adèle Pautrat, coordinator of the Seeds4all project, and Hannes Lorenzen, President of the ARC2020 association, travelled to Belgrade, Serbia, in February and met several members of the Balkan Seed Network: Gordana Djurić (Alica Foundation, Bosnia-Herzegovina), Kostas Koutis (Aegilops, Greece), Ivana Radović (Ecological movement Frame of Life, Serbia) and Lavdosh Ferruni (Organic Agriculture Association, Albania). […]
From re-enchanting pride for local crops and know-how to real world solutions to help relocate historical production sectors, Adèle explored from different angles how best to instil self-sufficiency and resilience in rural territories. Throughout the journey, one common thread emerged: the crucial role that agrobiodiversity plays in driving territorial transitions and rural revolutions. […]
The center-right EPP party in the European Parliament has put forward a draft proposal to reject the Nature Restoration and Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation. Their reasoning? Food security – or, at least a particular construction of food security. Ashley Parsons reports. […]
In its inception impact assessment for the deregulation of GMOs, the Commission argues that plants produced through New Genomic Techniques would contribute to sustainability goals outlined in the European Green Deal’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies. One of the main goals of the Farm to Fork Strategy is to reduce the use of pesticides by 50% by 2030. […]
We are told today that agriculture and rural areas are living through a pervasive digital transformation. But will digitalisation reverse the current productivism model or perpetuate it? At 72nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Regional Agricultural and Forestry Economics (ARAFE), Matteo Metta presented his insights on digital agriculture from the rural perspectives. The hybrid event took place last 23 October 2022 at the Ryukoku University (Kyoto, Japan) and touched upon key issues, global trends and local realities in agri, food, and rural transformations. […]
Carbon Farming is the new hype in agriculture. A proposal for a Certification Framework of Carbon Removals was proposed back in November by the Commission and there is a strong push by the Swedish presidency and French government to make it happen quickly. But can a Europe-wide Carbon Farming program coexist with the CAP? In this article, we explore the similarities and contradictions between the two. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention