“If you leave people in insecurity and fear, they will follow populists and nationalists of all kind.” Interview with Boban Ilic, Secretary General of the Western Balkan Standing Working Group for Regional Rural Development of South Eastern Europe […]
Tom Lancaster, Senior Agriculture Policy Officer at the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) assesses the uncertain terrain of the UK, farm subsidies and public goods post Brexit. In doing so, some interesting considerations emerge for the EU too. […]
The European Commission intends to adopt – before the end of 2017 – a Communication on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2020. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made this announcment to 400 delegates at the Agriculture Outlook event in Brussels on Tuesday. […]
Following Jean Claude Junker’s announcement of a CAP Communication by the end of 2017 Copa & Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen outlines his vision on where next for CAP. Part of our #AfterCAP debate series. […]
Livestock plays a central role in the CAP, but there are numerous areas of concern. While the public are interested in better animal welfare standards, policies lead to overproduction of grain and an abundance of cheap livestock products with all the sustainability issues this carries. […]
Sebastian Lanker and Rainer Oppermann explain how CAP is failing environmentally, before outlining specific budget neutral proposals, including for sustainability and agri-nature payments. […]
Alan Matthews assesses the terrain of competing forces in CAP reform, before suggesting some radical changes post 2020. […]
ARC2020 Coordinator Samuel Féret gives us a veritable cook book of the CAP – one that may have a master template, but with very varied national and regional editions. He also introduces some changes he’d like to see in Europe’s farming policy. […]
In our #AfterCAP debate opener, rural sociologist Jan Douwe van der Ploeg outlines his vision for what he calls integrated rural development. […]
Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan appears to be sticking to his guns on the banning of pesticides in Ecological Focus Areas, despite the opposition of 18 EU Member States. So what’s next? […]
New data from Lower Saxony on the registration of ecological focus area (EFA) for 2016 are published. The data shows almost no changes: The EFA is still an expensive measure for taxpayers with little positive impact on biodiversity. Sebastian Lanker gives ARC2020 this exclusive on the topic. […]
As part of CAP simplification, the European Commission is attempting to bring in some changes to greening. However a group of 18 Member States oppose three of the new, clear simple rules which happen to be stricter than the current rules. […]
A recent high level report by Karl Falkenberg stresses “agro-ecology” over “precision farming” as a way to make EU agri-food policy more sustainable. […]
Despite a positive sounding declaration at Cork 2.0, Rural Development risks serious funding cuts and de-prioritisation post 2020. This is a key message emerging – albeit obliquely – from Cork 2.0, the EU Commission Rural Development conference. Oliver Moore has more. […]
What may turn out to be a very important EU Commission Rural Development event is being held in Cork, Ireland, this coming Monday. Oliver Moore explains why. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention