CAP Reform

Bulgaria’s CAP Strategic Plan must be corrected in order to be in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal, and the EU’s Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies. This article highlights essential changes to be made, from targets and monitoring to measuring coherence and consistency.

Changes in the CAP strategic Plan submitted by Ireland are “required”, as pointed out in the Observation Letter sent by the European Commission to Ireland. The overall green architecture itself, including eco-schemes especially, needs work, if Ireland is to achieve its environmental targets. There is a distinct lack of ambition, scoring, and incentives for stronger environmental practices. Increasing dairy herd numbers is named directly as making the necessary changes more difficult. That the letter’s language is strident in places is noteworthy. So what is the Commission asking for? And what comes next? Oliver Moore reports.    

On 31 March 2022, the 19 EU Member States that submitted their CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs) by the 1 January 2022 deadline received their awaited Observation Letters. In this article we discuss the implications of the European Commission backtracking on a transparent process and explore the content of Observation Letters that have been partially released.

This article intends to shed some light on the bumpy road that led to Wallonia’s not yet finalised CAP Strategic Plan. Focussing first on understanding the delays, we’ll then expose how an originally inclusive debate has lowered itself to the level of their neighbour’s. Finally, we’ll take a look at the decision taken on coupled payments for livestock, what it implies in terms of economic sustainability and try to understand if this decision can be balanced by eco-schemes intervention.

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? This article looks at the case of Rwanda and suggests technological developers and policy makers to proceed with caution to avoid widening inequality between smallholders and commercial farms, privacy breaches or undesired data dependency on tech giants like Google.

This online event was organised to discuss about how the EU Member States are advancing their preparations of the CAP Strategic Plans before their final submission to the European Commission. The main focus is on the fairness elements of the draft plans. Fairness is not limited to the monetary and distributional aspects of direct payments but encompasses a broader set of considerations, such as labour, market organisation, and targeting towards environmental needs.

On 11-12 October 2021, EU agriculture ministers are 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. Meanwhile Italy still limps along with its ‘tavolo del partenariato” (consultation forum). While a wide range of stakeholders are putting proposals on the table, the agri-industrial lobby is “cooking” in the kitchen.

This analysis explores whether and how mutually recognised quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs are creating enhanced trade benefits for third countries’ producer groups in the frame of the Common Market Organisation and Association Agreements of the European Union. A case-study on coffee protected by designations of origin in Central America.

The build-up to the UN Food systems Summit 2021 has underlined why systems thinking is essential and action is required now, both concerning the ending of hunger and tackling the web of issues that contribute to sustainability.