Farmers have to be given the necessary time to see the effects of changes they make on their farms, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food has said.

Christophe Hansen (pictured) said that there needs to be more flexibility to take into account farmer investment so that they can make a return on that investment.

He said Brussels should “not just have bland deadlines that that are not fit for purpose” adding that it is very important to take into account the “geography and soil type in certain areas of the European Union”. The Commissioner said that the last CAP reform gave more flexibility to member states.

“[You] can’t compare agriculture in Ireland versus Romania or Greece. [It’s] completely different,” he said.

He went on to reiterate that he believes that elements of the CAP that are not working for each member state need to be fixed.