The European Commission intends to streamline and modernise the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in its 2021-27 budget.
The European Commission have announced their desire to modernise the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with a stronger focus on innovation.
The CAP has been allocated €365bn 2021 to 2027. This funding makes up for a total of 32% of the EU’s total budget for the period. Of this funding, €10bn will be made available through the EU’s Horizon Europe research funding mechanism to support research and innovation across the agricultural sector.
These new proposals are intended to ‘future-proof’ the industry, with measures supporting sustainable development and climate action, targeted income support for farmers; and increased flexibility for Member States in selecting where their agricultural funding is allocated.
Jyrki Katainen, the EU’s Vice President in charge of Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: “The Common Agricultural Policy is one of our core policies and affects the lives of all Europeans.
“These solid proposals will contribute to the competitiveness of the agricultural sector, whilst at the same time they reinforce its sustainability.
“With the new delivery model, we provide more subsidiarity to the Member States in order to improve the effectiveness of the policy and to better monitor its results.”
The 2021-27 tranche of Common Agricultural Policy funding will be focused on meeting nine key objectives:
- Supporting EU farmers’ income and resilience capacity in order to boost food security across the bloc
- Boosting market competitiveness, research and innovation
- Improving the position of farms and farmers across the whole value chain
- Contributing to the EU’s overarching goals on climate change mitigation and sustainable energy
- Promoting sustainable land use and resource management
- Preserving habitats and ecosystems and preventing biodiversity loss
- Encouraging young farmers and small to medium enterprises
- Promoting sustainable employment and development in rural regions; and
- Improving the ways in which the EU’s agricultural sector responds to societal food and healthcare demands and shoring up animal welfare provisions.
Phil Hogan, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said: “Today’s proposal delivers on the Commission’s commitment to modernise and simplify the Common Agricultural Policy; delivering genuine subsidiarity for Member States; ensuring a more resilient agricultural sector in Europe; and increasing the environmental and climate ambition of the policy.”
