Agriculture

Reeds are used to make thatch for roofs, and grass fibres are used to make furniture: paludiculture combines peatland conservation with agriculture. Strong political support is needed to give this sustainable way of using rewetted peatlands a chance of success.

Our consumption of livestock products has an effect on the climate – through the emission of greenhouse gases and the conversion of natural landscapes into agricultural land. Even more greenhouse gases escape into the atmosphere when peatlands are drained to allow livestock-keeping or to grow fodder crops.

It is widely known that energy companies have been making enormous profits since the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Over recent months, however, there has also been much evidence of crisis profiteers in the agri-food sector, as food prices in many countries are still rising steeply. High food prices are directly contributing to a rise in poverty and food insecurity.

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, EU Member States are asking for reduced environmental obligations in 2024. What happened during this week’s AgriFish EU Council meeting, CAP-wise? ARC2020's Mathieu Willard guides you through the updates.

CAP 2022 & 2023 has seen multiple authorised derogations on environmental standards. These derogations, ostensibly for food security, are pushed hard by the agribusiness-lobby & criticised by many scientists. So who’s right? New data, including in particular a report from Abl, Birdlife, Global 2000 and Corporate Europe Observatory, helps us separate myth from reality.

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?

Carbon farming is the new hype in agriculture. A proposal for a Certification Framework of Carbon Removals was proposed back in November 2022 by the European Commission and there is a strong push by the Swedish EU Council Presidency and the French government to make it happen quickly. But can a Europe-wide carbon farming program coexist with the CAP? In this article, ARC2020 explores the similarities and contradictions between the two.

Although the CAP Strategic Plans have been approved and are now being implemented, they are not closed files. Once a year, amendments can be proposed by Member States and, under specific conditions, other adaptations can be required. Recent readjustments of targets for climate mitigation in different legislations to meet the ambition of the Fit For 55 package should offer an opportunity to raise the ambition of CAP Strategic Plans on climate action. In this article, we will consider how the CAP Strategic Plans might be amended and, under what circumstances, and assess the potential move forward that the progress on the Fit For 55 package can provide.

The German CAP Strategic Plan has the potential for an ambitious CAP 2023 to 2027. While the debate on the next CAP post-2027 is already starting, in this article we argue that the German government needs to exploit all potential in the current CAP to increase the ambition towards more climate change mitigation and the protection and enhancement of natural resources and biodiversity. The coalition agreement gives them the mandate to do so.

“Rural Europe Takes Action – No more business as usual”, the book published by ARC2020 and Form Synergies in June last year, ended with a mysterious unwritten regulation, the Common Agricultural Policy of the future. Only it is not. It is much broader than that. We called it the European Rural and Agricultural (and Food) Policy (ERAP). So, what is it about and why is it important to talk about it now? Let’s dive into it. This article is the second part of a two-part series. In this first part, we discussed the “why” we urgently need a new CAP. In this second part, we will present our proposal for an integrated Rural and Agricultural Policy.