About: common agricultural policy
Hogan urges EU member states to include rural women in their CAP strategies
EU Commissioner for agriculture Phil Hogan has encouraged member states to take advantage of the new Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP) flexibility and tackle issues related to rural women.
Poor access to credit prevents women from entering European farming
The access to credit and financing is one of the most important obstacles women farmers are facing in order to take the risky leap to join Europe’s agricultural sector.
Croatian MEP: Women farmers should be ‘key element’ of the new CAP
Empowering women in rural areas will contribute to boost entrepreneurship, self-employment and innovation in European agriculture, argues Marjiana Petir, a Croatian MEP from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP).
Young Polish farmer: The reasons to move to the countryside
Small farms dominate the Polish agriculture. Their area gradually decreases, but data from the Central Statistical Office shows that the average Polish farmer has two to five hectares of land at his/her disposal. EURACTIV Poland reports.
Low returns and rural areas’ restrictions keep young Greek farmers away
Low profitability and poor infrastructure quality make farming in Greece unattractive to young people, who are needed more than ever before to take the agricultural sector a step forward, stakeholders have told EURACTIV Greece.
Young people and women ‘both needed’ in the next CAP, Spaniards say
Excessive red tape, combined with lack of access to land and proper rural infrastructure, continues to be the main obstacle to attracting young men and women in Spain’s agriculture sector. EFE Agro reports.
Lack of infrastructure and small farm support discourages young people in Germany
The lack of proper infrastructure in German rural areas, as well as poor support for new small farms, prevent young people from investing in agriculture and force them to move to cities. EURACTIV Germany reports.
Women try to find their feet in French agriculture
Women, the great forgotten group of agricultural policies, represent a quarter of French farmers. In Brittany, the “agriculture au féminin” network is attempting to push forward the issue of gender equality in the farming sector. EURACTIV France reports.
Young people and women in EU farming
The EU farming sector is faced with an ageing population. In 2016 only 11% of farm managers in the EU were young farmers under the age of 40 years, according to Eurostat.
Citizens are fed up with industrial agriculture
Europe's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was a big issue at this year's Green Week in Berlin. With all the billions of euros available, the agro-ecological transition is more than possible, especially if subsidies to agribusiness and factory farms were stopped, write Harriet Bradley and Trees Robijns.
The way agricultural aid is distributed creates inequalities, French court of auditors say
The way agricultural aid is distributed in France is unequal and produces negative effects, the French court of auditors said in a summary judgement. The chamber is calling for changes to how aid is allocated under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), though this is currently not on the agenda. EURACTIV France reports.
Hogan urges Czech farmers to invest in processing agri-products to boost competitiveness
Czech farmers have to invest more in processing agricultural products if they want to improve their position in an increasingly competitive environment, EU Commissioner Phil Hogan said in an interview with Aktuálně.cz.
Greek farmers fume against mayor who banned short food supply chains
The mayor of Kozani, a city in northern Greece, decided to ban the “movement without intermediaries”, which had created a direct link between local farmers and consumers.
Reform programmes should compensate low-income workers, OECD says
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has urged governments to pay attention to the consequences of their policies and compensate vulnerable groups that could be hit by new taxes.
Spanish producers go digital to shorten food supply chains
Spanish producers are increasingly taking advantage of the booming Internet and digital commerce in order to shorten the supply chain and therefore improve their profitability.
Campaigner: Short food supply chain is more than selling local products
Short food supply chains have a multidimensional role to play. They can help revitalise European farms by encouraging young people to work the land, but they also provide cheap and healthy food to consumers and attract tourists, campaigner Geneviève Savigny told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
Green MEPs: New CAP is not ambitious on short food supply chains
The development of short food supply chains, where intermediaries between farmers and consumers are removed, provides consumers with healthier food and especially in the case of Europe’s south, major opportunities to enhance agrotourism, Green MEPs told EURACTIV.com.
Catch 22: Why too many EU vessels still chase too few fish
The reformed Common Fisheries Policy contain the tools to deliver profitable fisheries, thriving fish stocks and lively coastal communities. To combat over-fishing, the EU and member states must act now, demands Jan Isakson.
Tsipras says CAP and regional policy cuts a ‘gift’ to anti-Europeans
Athens will oppose proposed cuts in the post-2020 agricultural and regional policy as this will be a “gift” to anti-EU populist forces, Greek premier Alexis Tsipras said on 13 December at the EU Council.
Baltic farmers in Brussels to restore CAP’s ‘historical anomaly’
Farmers from the Baltic countries will gather on 13 December in Brussels to call for a fairer distribution of payments in the framework of the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Can Europe help combat the dying out of farms?
In the debate over the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP), there is also the question of how funding allocation can be better adapted to the regions’ specific needs. EURACTIV Germany reports.
EU auditors insist the new CAP is unclear on climate goals measurement
The complementarity of the EU's post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy with climate change goals remains a big challenge because the objectives are vaguely defined and short on measurable details, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) told EURACTIV.com.
EU official: Specific conditions will make agriculture spending more efficient
The new Common Agriculture Policy budget is moving towards a science-based approach, with most targets multidisciplinary in nature and requiring member states to come up with specific national approaches, a senior EU official told EURACTIV.com.