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EU urged to promote 'territorial vision' of farming

July 23, 2010

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Meeting in Brussels earlier this week, agriculture stakeholders from across Europe have called on the EU to move away from intensive farming to a more sustainable model that supports the economic renaissance of rural areas.

A conference organised by the European Commission in Brussels this week (19-20 July) heard contributions from a variety of interest groups as the EU executive prepares proposals to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) later this year.

Part of a wider public debate on the EU's future farm policy, the conference attracted some 600 participants from the fields of agriculture and rural development.

The upcoming CAP reform was seen by many as am opportunity to achieve a "paradigm shift" from centralised intensive production towards a more territorial approach that values local differences as well as the environment.

Diversity of local products and cultural identities can be a "source of wealth" and should be promoted, said Sabine Laruelle, minister of agriculture for Belgium, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

Ideas for diversifying economic activity in rural areas include supporting farmers who process their own raw materials and renewable energy as well as initiatives to promote tourism.

Budget up for discussion in 2011

EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloº agreed on the need to maintain agricultural activity in all rural areas. "The future CAP needs to be able to support this diversity," he said.

But he stressed that both small and large farms have a role to play in the future CAP, as their contribution can vary depending on the region in which they are based. "All can deliver goods and we need to support this," he said.

Cioloº also said there were "a lot of objectives" for the future CAP and noted that whether the budget can rise to the level of expectations will be up for discussion "later".

Whether or not to slash the future CAP budget to free up money for other EU priorities is one of the most contentious issues in the farm reform and a major source of tension between CAP supporters like France and critics such as the UK and the Netherlands.

The farm budget will be debated in the context of a general review of the EU budget, on which talks are set to be launched after the summer break.

Concrete proposals for the EU's next multi-annual financial framework will be tabled in July 2011, in parallel with the Commission's legislative proposals on CAP reform.

The French and German ministers of agriculture, Bruno Le Maire and Ilse Aigner, announced this week that they would come up with a joint position on the future of CAP in September this year.

The aim is to avoid a repeat of the difficult EU budget negotiations for the current financial period (2007-2013), which saw former French President Jacques Chirac lock horns with German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Positions

Goran Šoster, representing rural areas in EU pre-accession countries (PREPARE), said the suggested "territorial approach" to farming would help strike a balance between environmental, economic and societal concerns, allowing everybody to get a "fair share of the value added" created by farming.

The "territorial agriculture" model would prioritise local planning and favour the development of food systems that are more environmentally-friendly, said Heino von Meyer of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), summarising a debate on the future of rural society.

Michael Dower from the Agriculture and Rural Convention (ARC 2020), a civil society group aiming to gather a wide variety of opinions on the EU's future farm policy, also supported the move towards more territorial targeting of EU support, saying it would lead to the "economic renaissance" of rural areas, boost jobs and create wealth.

Joris Baecke, president of the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA), stressed that the generational renewal of farmers should be a priority of the next CAP, as currently only 7% of farmers are aged under 35. Unless the future supply of young farmers is assured, the economic growth of rural areas will be in danger, he argued.

Part-time farming was also highlighted as an option for further consideration by Guy Beaufoy from the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism (EFNCP).

Italian Socialist MEP Paolo De Castro, chair of the European Parliament's committee on agriculture and rural development, noted that "many of our future challenges are related to agriculture" and referred to agriculture as "the basis for our social policy".

Representatives of local authorities stressed that rural development was not only about farming, and that therefore a new holistic and integrated rural strategic plan considering other economic sectors than agriculture is needed for the economic revival of rural areas.

In this regard, Jerzy Wilkin, professor of the Polish Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, argued that agriculture needs to be integrated into other EU public policies.

Francesco Matino, from the Italian National Institute for Agricultural Economics (INEA), urged the Commission's departments on agriculture and regional development to coordinate their efforts on farming and cohesion policies together with national, regional and structural funds as well as other funds. "Rural diversity calls for territorially tailored policies," he said.

However, Thomas Bertilsson from the Federation of Swedish Farmers, who is also chairman of the EU farmers' lobby Copa-Cogeca's rural development working party, stressed that it is of outmost importance to ensure access to different public services and infrastructure in rural areas in order to boost rural development.

Access to education, health, broadband Internet, transport or postal services, for example, are necessary to increase the attractiveness of rural areas and stop the exodus from countryside, he said. Next Steps

* 19-20 July 2010: CAP post-2013 conference in Brussels.

* 19 Sept. 2010: Council talks on consultation results

* Nov. 2010: Council talks on consultation results

* Nov. 2010: Commission communication setting out different options for future CAP after 2013, followed by formal public consultation.

* Dec. 2010: Council talks on Commission communication.

* June 2011: Commission to put forward legislative proposals on CAP reform.

* July 2011: Commission to present proposals on next multi-annual financial framework.

* By 2013: Common Agricultural Policy due to be reformed.

Background

The EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was established in 1958 to subsidise farmers and encourage them to produce more to ensure stable supplies of affordable food.

Three reforms in 1992, 1999 and 2003, and a more recent CAP 'Health Check' in 2008, tried to adjust the policy to changing priorities, new challenges and a new global context.

The period 2010-2012 will see a debate on the CAP's future beyond 2013, in the context of a general review of the EU budget.

Talks between the 27 EU countries will pitch supporters of strong regulation like France against traditional adversaries like the UK, which advocates a market-oriented policy.

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