Matteo Metta

Strengthening Multifunctional Agriculture through Digitalisation: Insights from Europe and Japan

April 27, 2023 Matteo Metta

We are told today that agriculture and rural areas are living through a pervasive digital transformation. But will digitalisation reverse the current productivism model or perpetuate it? At 72nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Regional Agricultural and Forestry Economics (ARAFE), Matteo Metta presented his insights on digital agriculture from the rural perspectives. The hybrid event took place last 23 October 2022 at the Ryukoku University (Kyoto, Japan) and touched upon key issues, global trends and local realities in agri, food, and rural transformations. […]

France | Pesticides, PDOs & Plenty of Spin at Salon de l’Agriculture 2023

March 1, 2023 Matteo Metta

Running since 1964, the Salon International de l’Agriculture in Paris is a microcosm of the knotted landscape around French agriculture. Visiting it for one day gives just a flavour of the much larger diversity, longer history, and deeper issues of this sector so important for French identities in France and Europe. We visited the 2023 opening day, curious to meet people, understand what is exhibited and what is not, and how. Here are our main takeaways. Photo reportage by Matteo Metta. […]

Rural Japan | Agroecology, Diversification and Digitalisation on Hashimoto Family Farm

November 1, 2022 Matteo Metta

While Japan continues to drive the high-tech smartification of agriculture, what is the role of digitalisation for a diversified, agroecological family farm in a rural part of Hyogo Prefecture? Matteo Metta writes this report from Hashimoto Farm in Ichijimachō […]

Letter From The Farm | Learning from a Campesino Family in Cuba

July 8, 2022 Matteo Metta

In Cuba, food security is still a challenge after years of wars to fight against colonialism, imperialism and climate change. Yet, the island is far beyond the European Green Deal objectives, having largely achieved most of the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity targets that the EU aspires to attain by 2030. One Cuban farm is going even further. Welcome to La Finca del Medio, a 13.42-hectare family farm located in central Cuba, which is championing food sovereignty in the agroecological way. Matteo Metta writes from the farm. […]

Just Transition in Ireland – Next Steps

May 5, 2022 Matteo Metta

What’s really involved in a genuinely just transition? Here we summarise the perspectives of wide range of actors from agriculture, energy, forestry and rural areas gathered to exchange views on the meaning and practical application of a just transition in a farming, food and rural context in Ireland. Event held in the WeCreate Centre in Cloughjordan ecovillage. With Matteo Metta and Oliver Moore. […]

Italian CAP Plan in Progress: too Little, too Late?

October 8, 2021 Matteo Metta

On 11-12 October 2021, the agri-ministers from all over the EU will be invited to share their views on design and approval of the CAP Strategic Plan, with emphasis on transparency and inclusion. With no sense of irony, this meeting will be held behind closed doors. […]

Last Week of CAP Negotiations: What’s the Deal?

May 20, 2021 Matteo Metta

As the negotiations start to come to a close, this article focuses on the remaining fair and green considerations. We shed light on the state of play in the CAP post 2022 inter-institutional negotiations, particularly in relation to those articles of the CAP Strategic Plan Regulation which are still open to political and technical discussions. So what’s the deal? […]

Hidden Formulas and Agri-Media – Can we Find a Fair CAP in Ireland?

May 7, 2021 Matteo Metta

With EU CAP trilogue negotiations entering a critical, final phase, the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine has published the results of a modelling analysis on its official website. This analysis, published in April, attempts to estimate the effects of 85% internal convergence of direct payments by 2026. While the results have been used to make strident, fear-mongering statements in the farming press, the methods used to come to these conclusions remain unclear. And the conclusions may in fact be be quite different to what is being reported in the farming press in Ireland. […]

Super Trilogue Weakens Results-Oriented CAP

April 8, 2021 Matteo Metta

The shift from compliance towards a result-oriented delivery model was highly debated in the super trilateral meeting on the 26 March 2021. Have the EU co-legislators ensured that the CAP Strategic Plans are result-oriented, while still holding the delivery model accountable for taxpayers? Here is our analysis on the main outcomes of the meeting. […]

CAP Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Framework – EP Position

November 17, 2020 Matteo Metta

Has the European Parliament’s adopted position in October 2020 strengthened, maintained, or weakened the Commission’s initial proposal to shift the CAP focus from compliance to performance? […]

A Rural Proofed CAP post 2020? – Analysis of the European Parliament’s Position

November 3, 2020 Matteo Metta

In the aftermath of the European Parliament’s adopted position, we analyse the adopted amendments in relation to the various aspects more relevant to rural development: financial allocation, flexibility between funds, LEADER, Smart Villages, environmental spending, organic farming, decentralization of delivery mechanism, etc. […]

Will the CAP Post 2020 be Fairer – and What Does That Mean?

September 22, 2020 Matteo Metta

The post 2020 reform promised to deliver a fairer CAP: better targeting and distribution of resources. At the core of a fairer CAP, the Commission introduced mandatory capping – upper limits to payments – and degressivity – progressive reduction of payments above a certain level – to address a skewed distribution of around 80% of direct payments to only 20% of European farms. […]

Italy – Digitalisation, Diverse Farms and Rural Resilience

July 30, 2020 Matteo Metta

Digital tools that suit the complexity of diversified farms and meet their specific needs, can bring new challenges but, once these are overcome, they can contribute to farm resilience and viability. Meet two Italian farm enterprises and see how their stories and narratives show that digitalisation means not only access to connectivity, but also capacity to use, manage and control technologies. […]

CAP Strategic Plans on Climate, Environment – Ever Decreasing Circles

July 1, 2020 Matteo Metta

The latest effort at CAP reform from the Commission was supposed to focus on a new delivery model, more environmental ambition, and a performance and monitoring evaluation framework. As the Croatian presidency ends, little progress has been made. In fact, as our CAP Strategic Plans project shows, in many cases, things have gone towards another direction. Matteo Metta reports. […]

European Green Deal | Revving Up For CAP Reform, Or More Hot Air?

June 11, 2020 Matteo Metta

The European Green Deal has the potential to shape the CAP towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly policy. But as we’ve seen with the debate surrounding the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies published last month, it can also distract attention from the less obvious problems of the CAP. Analysis by Matteo Metta. […]