Soaring grain prices, alongside gas, oil, fertilizers and pesticides, have sparked an unexpected debate on food production in the EU. A dependent and completely overexposed agricultural system has brought with it fear of food insecurity. In this article, we explore the tools that the commission is using to assess the potential of CAP Strategic Plans in reaching food security and propose our own analyses. […]
A key EU Commission Food Security Communication has been circulating, which outlines some emergency measures the EU Commission proposes to in part deal with the food crises stemming from the war in Ukraine. The document, entitled “Safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience of food systems” is due for formal release tomorrow (Wednesday 23rd). So what’s in it? […]
Sebastian Lakner assesses the current, rapidly changing situation of agri-food trade and policies. How is the war impacting on agri-food supplies, and what are the responses at EU and national level? This opinion piece is an English language update of an earlier German post on the agricultural economist’s blog. […]
With the war in Ukraine, the discourse around the CAP has shifted towards approving unambitious, business-as-usual strategic plans that serve the interests of agri-industrial block and lobby groups. As French elections are only a few weeks away, “Pour un autre PAC” (PUAP) outlined its positions on the opportunities that will arise throughout the next presidential mandate. […]
While one third of Member States missed the deadline for submitting national strategic plans for the CAP (CSP), we find Belgium (comprising Wallonia and Flanders), still seemingly bogged down in the last details of the CSP, trying not to set yet another record in negotiation length. Will Wallonia ask again for a derogation on coupled livestock support, and how will the eco-scheme on extensive grazing fare with more coupled money into livestock? […]
Here is the full text of Agroecology Europe’s Barcelona Letter on Agroecology. Policy and investments, inclusion and participation, rural-urban connections, pricing, breeding, technology and transition all feature in this call out for a different approach to how we the people do farming, land and food. […]
What lessons can we learn from the plucky parakeet? How will we navigate this strange and beautiful world in the year ahead? From Seeds4All to Soup and Talk, from rural action to diverse diversification, ARC has a plan. Come, join in. […]
How has Ireland used the flexibility of the CAP legal framework post-2022 to design a fairer CAP Strategic Plan? A new policy analysis, researched and written by Matteo Metta for the Left group in the European Parliament (GUE), assesses fairness in Ireland’s CAP submission in a number of ways, while making a proposal for a way forward to assess CAP spending with more coherence – a unique beneficiary code for all CAP recipients. […]
Today we launch a report on the CAP Strategic Plans process, as it has unfolded throughout 2021. The full document includes an overview, an analysis of the initial Commission recommendations, analyses of aspects of CAP in Germany (Green Architecture), Bulgaria (High Nature Value) Poland, Italy, precision farming, crop rotations, capping, and finally CAP and EU relations to third countries. […]
A new German government coalition of Socialists, Liberals and Greens – known as the “traffic light coalition” – has put a new farming and food policy on its agenda. ARC2020 President Hannes Lorenzen provides insight into the agreement reached between the coalition parties. […]
As the CAP process moves into its next phase, national coalitions are mobilising to encourage the European Commission to do a robust, ambitious job in assessing Member States CAP Strategic Plans. […]
Despite the spin, after years of negotiations, the CAP that will be voted on this week in Strasbourg does little of substance to really address the crises – climate and biodiversity – and does as little as possible to address fairness. And there will be much talk of the greenest CAP ever, but this is mostly hot air unfortunately. Here we outline what’s being voted on in plenary, present related survey data from EEB/Birdlife, IFOAM EU and share the views of Sommer Ackerman of the Withdraw the CAP movement. […]
Agricultural industry, species extinction, nutrition, climate: If we reform agriculture, we could achieve great things. Such reform should be a priority for the incoming “traffic-light” coalition government in Germany, but will it rise to the task? Tanja Busse has more. […]
The development and diffusion of precision agriculture might speed up since fresh money could become available through eco-schemes under the new CAP Strategic Plans. How does the EU support precision agriculture and what does it mean from a global south perspective? […]
‘Should agricultural subsidies go to labour not land?’ This question was up for discussion at a meeting hosted by ARC2020 in Summer 2021. Area based payments are absolutely central to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) yet they have a range of negative impacts and act as a barrier to progressive change. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention