The first Agricultural Council under the Danish Presidency chaired by Danish Agriculture Minister Mette Gjerskov discussed the Commission’s proposed single CMO regulation last Monday. Divisions were evident over sugar quotas, but a positive sign was the number of ministers who expressly opposed the continued use of export subsidies.

The demand from the new member states for greater convergence in the value of the direct payment per eligible hectare in the current CAP negotiations means that the redistribution of budget resources between the member states is now firmly on the reform agenda. But it also makes reaching agreement much more difficult.

Today, the European Commission has launched the fiftieth anniversary of the Common Agricultural Policy. The Commission’s campaign wants to emphasise the CAP as a cornerstone of European integration, as a policy that has provided European citizens with half a century of food security and a living countryside. No one wants to spoil a good party, but of course the overall balance sheet of the CAP remains controversial, to say the least.

EU agricultural real income per worker has risen again in 2011, raising serious questions regarding the idea of continuous income support endorsed by the European Commission.

The UK Oxford Farming Conference commissioned a report to examine the dynamics and implications of global agricultural power. What is meant by agricultural power and why might it be important?

The Commission’s expectations for the EU sugar market following the end of sugar quotas in 2015 are contained in its market outlook to 2020 publication published last month. The elimination of quotas is expected to have a negligible impact on the EU sugar market.

The Polish Presidency was not focusing especially on agriculture but has reached some important results as well as missed some opportunities depending on which side of the coin one looks.

While levels of agricultural support and protection have been falling in OECD countries, agricultural support in a number of (but not all) emerging economies has been increasing. Rising agricultural support in emerging economies may lead to these countries breaching their WTO commitments, and this trend will raise difficult questions about the reasonableness and fairness of these commitments.

Europe’s laying hens are looking forward to a happier New Year, but what will happen to the eggs from the 50 million birds still kept in conventional battery cages?

The refusal of the Environment Council meeting on 19 December last to endorse the Commission’s greening proposals in its legislative proposals for CAP reform has been interpreted as a victory for agricultural interests attempting to water down the greening element in these proposals. But this interpretation may underestimate the extent to which there is genuine doubt about the effectiveness and environmental value of the measures that the Commission proposes.

Moving to the regional model of basic income support poses considerable challenges for member states which currently use the historical model. An Irish proposal seeks to create a linkage between the mechanism used for converging payments across member states and flattening payments within member states, but will it fly?

Ireland proposes an allocation key based on Pillars 1 and 2 combined which has the virtue of consistency but which would need further modifications to make it acceptable to the new member states.

Decisions at the Durban climate conference will have potentially important effects for the challenges facing EU farming as it attempts to reduce its carbon footprint in order to meet EU greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

The EU agricultural and food sectors, and the negotiations on CAP reform, are unlikely to remain unaffected by the continuing eurozone crisis.

The new CAP reform should take account of the differentiation of the level of payments by the use of land.

It is stated and accepted everywhere that the future CAP should be based on the existing two pillars, pretending that the current structure is working well.

It seems that the Commission neglects the fact that we cannot properly measure the value of public goods in Europe.

New study suggests the EU along with China would be the major winner from a conclusion of the Doha Round negotiations, with limited impacts expected for EU agriculture.

There is now a real prospect that Russia will gain membership of the WTO before year end, which would bring benefits for the EU agri-food sector.

The European Trade Union Confederation has questioned whether farmers should be entitled to support from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund in the next financial framework period.

The Commission can always find a reason to justify direct payments.

MEP Mairead McGuinness points out that the timeline for the legislative procedure on CAP reform is very tight, with even the possibility the current regime would need be rolled over one year into 2014.

Updated and revised analysis of the trade and development implications of the Commission’s legislative proposals published.

ICTSD have published a draft paper that I have authored examining the trade and development implications of the measures likely to be included in the Commission’s legislative proposals on CAP reform tomorrow. Click on the heading for the link.

Information on how the new European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Sustainability and Productivity will work is scarce, but initial soundings raise a question mark over how much it will really do to reverse the declining growth in agricultural productivity.

New poll shows public support for main thrust of the Commission’s reform plans

Redistributing direct payments between and across Member States will have only marginal effects on EU production, recent studies show.

Apologies that there appears to be a problem in viewing in-post images in previous posts using Internet Explorer, which means that often the browser does not display the associated graphs. At the moment I don’t understand the reason for this, but if you want to see the graphics, then please use an alternative browser such as Firefox, Chrome or Opera.

The Commission estimates that the gross cost of the green measures in Pillar 1 will be at least €5 billion, although the cost to farmers will be lower because reduced market supply will help to raise product prices. Is this the best way of spending €5 billion to maximise the value of the additional environmental benefits produced by farmers?

National envelopes to be replaced by broader scope for recoupling in Commission’s draft Regulation on direct payments post 2013.

Court’s criticisms raise fundamental policy choice for the Commission as it seeks to shift more CAP spending to environmental public goods

Simulations of different criteria for the distribution of Pillar 2 funds in the Commission’s draft impact assessment show how political is the choice of objective criteria.

Commission impact assessment confirms very limited redistribution across Member States under the preferred option in the multiannual financial framework.

The end of sugar quotas and a strengthened market disturbance clause are the highlights of the draft proposal on common market organisations.

Greater flexibility in how the money can be spent will be welcomed by Member States.

Compulsory greening the biggest surprise in draft Commission regulation on direct payments after 2013. Commission sets goal of uniform direct payment per ha across all Member States by 2029.

This guest post is written by Professor Ulrich Koester, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Market Analysis and Policy at the University of Kiel. It originally appeared in German as an opinion piece in the periodical Wirtschaftsdienst 8/2011.

Last week’s WTO meetings suggest there will be no Doha Round agreement in the immediate future. The December Ministerial Conference has the responsibility to chart a roadmap for life after Doha.

Agriculture Committee adds voice calling for rejection of further agricultural trade liberalisation with Morocco.

Whether direct payments could still be reduced under the financial discipline mechanism in the 2014-20 period and, if yes, how it would work has still not been clarified by the Commission.