Today we launch a report on the CAP Strategic Plans process, as it has unfolded throughout 2021. The full document includes an overview, an analysis of the initial Commission recommendations, analyses of aspects of CAP in Germany (Green Architecture), Bulgaria (High Nature Value) Poland, Italy, precision farming, crop rotations, capping, and finally CAP and EU relations to third countries. […]
A new German government coalition of Socialists, Liberals and Greens – known as the “traffic light coalition” – has put a new farming and food policy on its agenda. ARC2020 President Hannes Lorenzen provides insight into the agreement reached between the coalition parties. […]
As the CAP process moves into its next phase, national coalitions are mobilising to encourage the European Commission to do a robust, ambitious job in assessing Member States CAP Strategic Plans. […]
Despite the spin, after years of negotiations, the CAP that will be voted on this week in Strasbourg does little of substance to really address the crises – climate and biodiversity – and does as little as possible to address fairness. And there will be much talk of the greenest CAP ever, but this is mostly hot air unfortunately. Here we outline what’s being voted on in plenary, present related survey data from EEB/Birdlife, IFOAM EU and share the views of Sommer Ackerman of the Withdraw the CAP movement. […]
Agricultural industry, species extinction, nutrition, climate: If we reform agriculture, we could achieve great things. Such reform should be a priority for the incoming “traffic-light” coalition government in Germany, but will it rise to the task? Tanja Busse has more. […]
The development and diffusion of precision agriculture might speed up since fresh money could become available through eco-schemes under the new CAP Strategic Plans. How does the EU support precision agriculture and what does it mean from a global south perspective? […]
‘Should agricultural subsidies go to labour not land?’ This question was up for discussion at a meeting hosted by ARC2020 in Summer 2021. Area based payments are absolutely central to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) yet they have a range of negative impacts and act as a barrier to progressive change. […]
On 11-12 October 2021, the agri-ministers from all over the EU will be invited to share their views on design and approval of the CAP Strategic Plan, with emphasis on transparency and inclusion. With no sense of irony, this meeting will be held behind closed doors. […]
Cutting space for nature on farms, from its own proposed level of 5% to just 4%, is the most brutal of adjustments mooted by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) in one of the final CAP consultations last Thursday. A list of five for the most part unambitious eco-schemes has also been announced, which will do little to move Irish agriculture towards a more environmentally sustainable place. […]
After more than 2 years of negotiations since June 2018, the three EU co-legislators found an agreement on the regulations for the future Common Agricultural Policy post-2022 (CAP). Much of the attention is now moving on the 27 Member States who will be in charge of implementing these regulations via the future National CAP Strategic Plans 2023-2027. […]
Agroforestry is positively highlighted in many adopted texts and directives from Brussels and is also mentioned in the framework of the CAP and proposed as a possible measure of the Eco-Schemes. Despite its undisputed benefits, it is still largely unknown. What’s more surprising is that the current process of CAP strategic plans seems to virtually overlook it – so is it all spin, no substance? Andrea Beste has more. […]
The design and approval of the future 27 CAP Strategic Plans are key moments to demonstrate the true commitment towards a fairer, greener, and rural-proofed CAP reform. The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Wojciechowski, promised ‘full transparency’ and ‘open dialogue beyond DG AGRI and agri-ministers’. Now ARC can reveal that a Joint Letter has been sent by civil society organisations to the Commission to put their promises in practice. […]
€100 billion of CAP funds attributed to climate action had “little impact” on greenhouse gas emissions. That’s according the European Court of Auditors, in a report released 21st June. Here we unpack in detail where and how CAP is failing on climate, and what the auditors recommend. Part one of two – part two will critically assess the report, with a particular focus on organic farming. By Oliver Moore. […]
The European Commission published its Communication on A long-Term Vision for the EU’s rural areas on Wednesday June 30th. There is much that’s worth recognising and lauding in this, including a new ‘Rural Pact’. However there are serious gaps and significant blind spots. In particular, the how and when elements – strategy and immediacy – are conspicuous in their absence. […]
The Common Market Organization (CMO), insufficient grazing subsidies and eco-schemes. An explainer about how EU dairy exports could increase rural unemployment and food poverty in Japan. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention