A stinging attack on the European Parliament’s agriculture committee from one of Europe’s leading environmental NGOs
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The worst case scenario examined
A new report reveals which farms would survive without CAP subsidies and which would fail
The future of direct payments
A study commissioned by the European Parliament endorses the ‘public money for public goods’ mantra.
Which member states pay for wasteful farm income support?
The closer that CAP reform negotiations come to the finish line, the more will member states look at their financial bottom line. ‘How much do we pay, how much do we get?’ That question will concern finance ministers and heads of states at least as much as the objectives and instruments the CAP funds are spent on.
The historic roots of agricultural protectionism in Europe
The historical roots of agricultural protectionism in Europe are deep – going back to the 19th century. Agriculture is not special in itself but a classical example of special interests defending their rents to the detriment of collective welfare.
A three pillar CAP?
Two pillars are not enough for a sustainable future for the CAP, say leading agricultural economists.
A tale of two visions
The German government has recently announced its position on the post-2013 CAP – which is at loggerheads with the call for reforms published by its scientific advisory bodies.
The limits of (evaluating) rural development policies
The mid-term evaluation of the 2007-13 rural development programs is underway. Its results will provide crucial input for the post-2013 CAP. But the inherent limitations of evaluation should equally inform policy design.
The development angle
The CAP is still hurting developing countries, say the UN and the OECD. But will European development NGOs engage in the battle over the future of the CAP?
10 May: Sugar is sweeter
This week’s digest of CAP-related news and views
Who will guard the guardians?
How effective is the evaluation of rural development policy? A practitioner’s opinion and a seminar.
EU boosts farm subsidy millionaires by more than 20 per cent in 2009
Farmsubsidy.org reveals who got what from the CAP in 2009
15 April: Ciolos wants to hear from YOU!
This week’s digest of CAP-related news and views
How much is enough?
The level of the CAP budget should be decided by a comprehensive justification of all expenditure not a gut feeling.
EP draft report: Whereas all this is nonsense
The EP own-initiative report on the post-2013 CAP is taking shape as a new draft has become available (dated 24.3.2010). Though it is better packaged, and sexed-up with a ‘green growth’ tag, the content is just as dull and conservative as the earlier draft. The report captures the intellectual deficiency of the CAP-insider bubble. The [...]
EP own-initiative report on the post-2013 CAP
The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development is preparing a report on the post-2013 CAP. A recently published draft is alarming.
Sarkozy and Cameron on collision course?
For the entente cordiale, the British budget rebate and the CAP are a toxic combination.
CAP Reform Conversations: Ariel Brunner, BirdLife International
The second in a series of in-depth conversations with leading figures in the debate on the future of the CAP.
Voters punish Sarkozy, Le Maire stays on
French farms minister fails in his bid to become regional president of Normandy
How can direct payments be justified after 2013?
Former OECD ag supremo demolishes the arguments.
Crystal ball gazing: Scenar II study on the effects of CAP reform
A new economic modelling study commissioned by DG Agriculture shows that many of the core claims made for the CAP are highly misleading, or downright wrong.
22 March: Hey, big spender
This week’s digest of CAP-related news & views
DG Agri study: Don’t be afraid of liberalization
A new study shows that Europeans won’t go hungry without the CAP
OECD research on the CAP
Agricultural ministers of the OECD met in late February 2010 – the first time since 1998 – and issued a communiqué that touches on everything and says close to nothing. For once, such an empty statement is perfectly fine. The OECD Secretariat doesn’t need its ministers in order to do an excellent job in providing [...]
12 March: Sarko steals the headlines
This week’s digest of CAP-related news & views
The Socialist Revolution
The European Socialists & Democrats have published a position paper (A NEW CAP beyond 2013 and for a longer view) calling for radical changes: a focus on public goods and social objectives, the merging of all instruments into a single pillar, and the shedding of all rural development measures not directly related to agriculture.
Sarkozy offers a deal on CAP reform
The French President criticises subsidy dependency and calls for a return to community preference
5 March: The circus comes to town
This week’s digest of CAP-related news & views
New Danish farms minister in subsidy storm
Yesterday’s reshuffle of the Danish government included the appointment of a new minister for agriculture: Henrik Høegh. Less than a day into his new job, he is becoming embroiled in a political row over a perceived conflict of interest. The reason? Mr Høegh is a farmer who receives more than sixty thousand euro a year [...]
CAP Reform Conversations: Paolo De Castro MEP
Jack Thurston talks to Paolo De Castro MEP, chair of the parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.
NMS farm ministers flex their muscles
Farm ministers from the new member states of central and eastern Europe meet to mount a defence of a large agricultural budget after 2013.
CAP support levels reach new high
CAP subsidies as reported to the WTO reached the highest level in ten years in 2006/07 at over €90 billion.
Another day, another declaration
The European Food Declaration calls for a new agriculture policy based around ‘food sovereignty’.
Does the CAP fit?
The biggest driver for reform of the CAP is budgetary and the views of member states are critical, since they hold the EU’s purse strings. A new analysis of member state positions on the EU budget and the CAP shows that while there is support for reform of the EU budget there is little agreement on what reform actually means.
Le Monde debates the CAP
It’s time for a radical reorientation of the CAP towards environmentally-friendly farming
German call for reform of CAP payments
The German Council for Sustainable Development has issued a new call for reform of the CAP direct payments system, citing the damage done to the environment by intensive agriculture.
ELO and BirdLife fire the starting gun
Nothing tells you that a big political debate is hotting up like the emergence of new alliances of odd bedfellows. Yesterday saw a major joint intervention from two of Europe’s biggest, most authoritative and well-connected players in EU agriculture policy.
The BirdLife-ELO escapade
BirdLife International has made a mistake in getting into bed with the European Landowners Organisation
Ciolos confirmation hearing poor reflection on the Parliament
It is now over a week since the confirmation hearing of Commissioner-designate for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos before the European Parliament, but it was only this weekend that I had the opportunity to listen to the EP’s video of the hearing itself. Commentary elsewhere on Mr Ciolos’ performance has been rather negative (my [...]
What does co-decision have in store?
How the European Parliament uses its new decision-making powers after the Lisbon Treaty will help define the future of the CAP.
Does France really want to suspend agri-environmental measures?
The president of the main farmers’ union, the Fedération Nationale des Syndicats d’Exploitants Agricoles (FNSEA) Jean Michel Le Metayer called for “a pause in agri-environmental measures” and the suspension of new measures. The Ministry of agriculture seems to have some sympathy for this position. While it turns out that it is more the GAECs than the MAEs that are at stake, this is illustrative of the French debate.
Roger Waite the new voice of DG Agri
Roger Waite, editor of Agra Facts and frequent podcast guest on this blog, has accepted the job of spokesperson for Agriculture Commissioner-designate Dacian Ciolos.
BBC Documentary: A Farm for the Future
A Farm For the Future is a documentary that aired on the BBC last year. It explains just how oil-dependent our agriculture is: every calorie of food produced in the western world requires ten calories of fossil fuel energy. The film looks at the challenge of dwindling oil supplies and tries to find out what [...]
25 Questions for Dacian Ciolos
25 questions MEPs that should put to the man who – subject to their approval – will set the agenda for European food and farming policy over the next five years.
Fraud and the CAP
The budget monitoring website FollowTheMoney.eu is serialising a three part survey of the long history of fraud in the Common Agricultural Policy.
Welcome to capreform.eu
This group blog on European food and farming policy began in 2008 during the ‘health check’ or policy review of the CAP and could be found at the URL caphealthcheck.eu. The ‘health check’ is now well in the past and it’s time to rename this blog to keep up with the times and to introduce [...]
The NFU perspective on the future of the CAP
Britain’s National Farmers’ Union is noted for its strategic, long-term view of agricultural issues. Its officials have a sophsiticated, well informed view of developments and it was therefore interesting to read an interview in the latest edition of Farmers Weekly with the NFU’s head of economics and international affairs, Tom Hind. He was at one time acting head of the NFU’s office in Brussels. Not surprisingly, he takes the NFU line that farmers need to continue to receive the single farm payment (SFP) to give them a degree of income stability, especially faced with volatile markets.
Keeping an eye on the sugar market
Sugar did not experience the massive price spike in 2007-08 of other commodities, but has been making up for this with a tremendous increase in prices in 2009, driven by poor harvests in Brazil (the world’s largest producer) and strong import demand in India (the world’s largest importer). Raw sugar prices have risen from around 10 USc/lb in May 2008 to over 27 USc/lb currently, and market analysts expect further increases in the coming months.
Lessons from the 2009 EU dairy market crisis
The EU dairy market is now recovering from the severe drop in milk prices in 2009. Perhaps the clearest sign of this recovery is the setting of export refunds on dairy products to zero since mid-November, as world market prices for dairy products have strengthened in recent months. It is thus an opportune time to [...]
