EU farming subsidy reform to ease environmental rules for small farmers

The European Council and Parliament have struck a deal to simplify the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in a move that aims to make the agricultural framework more competitive for EU farmers and agri-food.

Yesterday’s agreement means that administrative costs will be reduced for small farmers, businesses, and start-ups as part of the farming subsidy reform. Lowering costs could result in annual savings of up to €1.6 billion (US$1.8 billion) for farmers and €200 million (US$231 million) for the administrations of member states, according to the EU Commission.

The CAP is worth around €387 billion (US$447 billion), which is approximately one-third of the EU’s total 2021–2027 budget.

Relaxing “green” rules

The plans would exempt smaller farmers from certain environmental protection requirements in exchange for receiving subsidies. This point is receiving mixed reactions, as environmental advocacy groups argue that the changes would make farmers more susceptible to the impacts of climate change.

Although there have been some changes to the CAP proposal, the provisional agreement maintains the general direction of the initial proposal, which aims to ease the administrative burden for farmers and administrations, increase payments to small farmers, and simplify the rules for organic farms. On-site checks on farms would be limited to once per year.

Member states will be able to provide crisis payments to farmers adversely impacted by natural disasters, adverse climatic events, or catastrophic events, under the proposals.

Slimming down policy and paperwork

The revised provisional agreement aims to improve certain aspects of the deal by allowing member states to decide to what extent partially organic farms can be considered to fulfill certain environmental standards, such as the so-called GAECs (good agricultural and environmental conditions).

“The agreement is an important step in the direction of simplification of the CAP. It not only contributes to the competitiveness of our farmers — it also makes it easier to deliver on our green ambitions, by giving farmers and member states more flexibility in the implementation of green requirements,” says Jacob Jensen, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark.

The provisional agreement now has to be formally adopted by the EU Council and the European Parliament.