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The Rural Investment Support for Europe (RISE) Foundation was set up as a think tank by, among, others former European agriculture commissioner Frans Fischler to promote rural development and improve the rural environment in 2006.
This was in response to concerns about the future prospects of continued depopulation and dwindling public support for rural areas. They have a strong environmental dimension and the creation of a more sustainable yet productive European agriculture is their stated objective.
Their event in Brussels this week, entitled “CAP – thinking outside the box,” was a presentation of their initial ideas on what the next CAP might look like and they are now scheduled to present their final report on 27 March.
Contributors included Alan Matthews, professor emeritus of European agricultural policy in Trinity College and Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness, both well known to Irish farmers and the agriculture industry.
Objectives
Matthews gave a recap of the CAP since the landmark McSharry reforms in 1992, highlighting the objectives of CAP as being food security, safety net against price volatility, addressing low farm incomes and support of sustainable land management.
He accepted these objectives but argued that the area-based payment structure of the current CAP was not an effective or efficient way of delivering these objectives.
Matthews said that not all the taxpayer-funded CAP money makes its way to farmers and that at least some of it is “capitalised into land values and higher input prices” benefiting people outside of farming.
He also said that the flat rate land-based payment system benefits larger landowners and that food security is an issue of household income that isn’t addressed by EU food production.
Direct payments
Regarding direct payments addressing income stability, Matthews referenced the task force report stating that in times of income crisis, farmers look for exceptional crisis measures and pillar 1 payments are not considered to be fulfilling this role.
He concluded: “Uniform area-based decoupled payments paid on every hectare of agricultural land are an ineffective policy instrument, they are not an efficient use of taxpayers’ money and they are inequitable to boot.”
Matthews said that they drive up land prices and rents, put downward pressure on prices and act as a barrier to entry for young farmers.
Frustration
Mairead McGuinness also contributed to the event and said that she recognised the strong case that is being made against direct payments. She highlighted the frustration with the greening measures of the current CAP for both farmers and environmentalists.
She said that farmers are angry “about the overly bureaucratic nature of the measure” while “environmentalists are critical saying that the measure do not deliver on the objectives set.”
McGuinness believes that “these objectives can only be achieved through a more holistic approach to farm management assisted by strong research and advisory systems in member states,” and that now “it is time for a less divisive debate between farmers and environmentalists.”
Events like this will be regularly hosted by many organisations and think tanks throughout the EU on how the next CAP can mutually benefit farmers, whose focus is producing food, and environmentalists, whose objective is protecting the environment.
To this we can add the Brussels jargon “public goods”, which means EU farmers must farm and produce in a way that is dictated by EU rules rather than science as the beef hormone ruling in the dispute in the US illustrates.
The deal is that farmers produce in a way that the EU wants which isn’t worth any more in the marketplace in return for a payment from the EU in recognition of this. The next CAP has to put sustainable, productive farming at its heart, with protection of the environment very much incorporated within the term sustainable.
Listen to Irish MEP Mairead McGuiness discuss unfair trading practices and the next CAP reform below:
Listen to "Mairead McGuiness MEP on CAP reform" on Spreaker.
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