The European Parliament’s draft report on the future of the CAP is an encouraging step towards progressive reform of the CAP, says the NFU.

The report, written by German MEP Albert Dess, is the first formal response to the European Commission’s communication on how to reform the CAP after 2013.

The Commission has proposed that controversial greening measures should be a mandatory component of direct payments, but Mr Dess favours delivering environmental improvements through the second pillar of the CAP. This could reinforce, rather than damage, participation in the agri-environment schemes under which almost 70% of English agricultural land is managed.

NFU Director of Policy Martin Haworth said the Dess report, which also reinforces the Commission’s desire to promote a strong common European agricultural policy, appeared to present a pragmatic alternative approach to reform that could help tackle the big issues facing farmers.

“The UK government’s recently published Foresight Report on global food and farming was clear when it called on governments to take urgent and co-ordinated action to avert disruption to our food markets on a catastrophic scale,” said Mr Haworth.

“In this context we need a clear and simple CAP that will encourage increased food production in a sustainable way, helping farmers to become more competitive, and their businesses to preserve natural resources.

“The Dess report argues in favour of market orientation and promotes further decoupling and more harmonised delivery of payments. This is an important first step for the next reform to bring about a more level playing field. It also places an emphasis on simplification.

“In particular, the report advocates ‘greening’ via pillar two of the CAP thereby reinforcing the role of the UK’s agri-environment schemes that are funded under rural development programmes.

“Now that the Parliament has co-decision powers on the CAP it has a vital role to play in developing farming policy. This report will be seen by some as controversial and though it is not perfect, it appears to represent a sensible way forward. I would therefore encourage UK MEPs to consider the pros and cons of the report over the weeks ahead,” he said.

Dess Report Key Comments

The report calls for the maintenance of the current CAP budget and argues in favour of a fairer distribution of funds across both pillars of the CAP. Member states should receive an allocation of at least two-thirds of the EU average direct payments – this would lead to relatively modest redistribution to the benefit of the Baltic member states. The UK as a whole is unlikely to be affected by this approach but could benefit from any redistribution of the second pillar (UK allocation in terms of €/ha is the lowest of all EU member states). Dess suggests a gradual switch from the historical reference to a single national or regional payment by the end of the next financial period (from 2014). Moreover, he is opposed to capping payments per farm.

The report recognises the role that direct payments play in supporting farm incomes and ensuring farmers deliver basic public goods that are driven by the EU’s stringent regulatory requirements. Contrary to the European Commission, which proposes including a green component in the direct payment (first pillar of the CAP), the German Christian Democrat wants to establish a link between this aid and a “priority catalogue” of greening measures under the second pillar, i.e. rural development (combating erosion, crop rotation, innovation, etc.). These would be pluriannual and 100% funded by the EU, sanctions in the form of reduced direct payments being imposed on farmers who fail to respect at least two of these measures. For this funding, the MEP underlines that “a sufficient transfer of the direct payment budget to the second pillar is necessary”.

The funding of these measures would be drawn from pillar 2 (i.e rural development programmes) and the report recognises that this would require a transfer of funds from the first pillar. It is implied, but not certain (paragraph 25), that member states’ existing contributions made via modulation of direct payments would be taken into account.

Next week NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond will meet key MEPs in Strasbourg to push for a strong CAP that enables farmers to successfully manage the challenges ahead.

CLA Respronse

CLA President William Worsley said today: "The key policy affecting farming is, of course, the Common Agricultural Policy – the CAP. Without it, farming as we know it would not exist. It’s essential we keep the CAP, while doing so in a way that is acceptable to Society as a whole.
In the debate over CAP Reform, we have led the way at home and in Europe. We have relentlessly pushed the concept of “Food and Environmental Security” – our philosophy that the CAP must help maintain our capacity to produce food while at the same time protecting and sustaining the natural environment. That means farmers need to be paid for producing food and for helping the environment.

Links

Dess Report