Decisions and Protests on CAP implementation in Germany

Late in the evening of November 4th at a special meeting in Munich, 16 regional agricultural ministers and their federal counterpart finally struck a disappointing deal on the CAP implementation in Germany and the distribution of agricultural EU funds from 2014. The conference was accompanied by protests from environmental and agricultural organisations of the German alliance ‘Meine Landwirtschaft‘.

The demands of agricultural and environmental groups were only marginally met. Instead of 30%, only 6.9% of the 5 billion € of direct payments will be used to top up payments for the first hectares, in favor of smaller farm operations. In addition to the approximately 300 € per hectare, 50€ for the first 30 acres and 30 € for the following 16 acres (up to a total of 46 hectares) will be paid. This 6.9% from the first pillar represents approximately 345m €.

Starting in 2015, 4.5% instead of a possible 15% will be transferred from Pillar I (direct payments to farmers) to Pillar II for targeted environmental programs. This will total around 225m €, or about 20% of the 1.2b € funding for the second pillar.

Young farmers should be delighted by one new decision: the first 90 acres will be subsidized with an additional 50 €.

Discrepancies in both Pillars between the different states should be adjusted gradually until there is a uniform national base premium.  This will be done in 3 equal steps leading up to 2019 (2017 – 2018 – 2019). The federal government will also add an additional 200m € to the 6.9b € from the EU.

Forderungen teilweise bestätigtPress releases on the outcome of this meeting (German):