EFA Archives - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Confidential Legal Advice on CAP Fast Track Uncovered – Critique of a Meek Opinion

April 20, 2024 Oliver Moore

Under pressure from farmer protests, upcoming elections and its own cowardice in the face of climate and biodiversity collapse, the political establishment in Brussels and beyond is fast-tracking the evisceration of CAP’s environmental elements. This rush job began on 15th March with a proposal from the Commission, and will likely end Thursday 25th when the last full plenary of the Parliament rubber stamps the proposed regulation. The latest piece of sequencing was confidential legal advice given to the European Parliament on the process. In part one Natasha Foote outlined the proposal and the legal advice. Here Oliver Moore applies a critical analysis to shortcomings therein. […]

More Legumes Please!

April 6, 2021 ARC

A newly published paper seeks to reposition legumes as protagonists in policy debates and encourage us to identify policies that would better support the transformation of European food- and feed-systems to a new norm, with greatly increased production and consumption of homegrown legumes and homegrown legume-based products. A savoury account of legume policy by lead author Bálint Balázs. […]

Reviewing Ecological Focus Areas: A Cross Pollination of Ideas

March 8, 2020 ARC

Insect pollinators continue to decline across Europe despite the Common Agricultural Policy’s increased focus on environmental protection. In response, a group of experts are calling for the improved quality of wildlife habitats through more targeted management and a robust monitoring framework, and a diversity of habitats to meet the resource requirements of our pollinating insects. […]

Climate Extremes Cause CAP Greening Rollback

August 21, 2018 ARC

CAP greening changes have been announced by the EU Commission because of drought However, these moves have annoyed some as they involve the cancellation of measures supposed to help make farming more resilient and robust in the face of climate extremes. And what will happen next, once this emergency passes? […]

CAP Greening Measures Ineffective ECA Report Finds

March 11, 2018 Helene Schulze

Greening measures found to be ineffective in enhancing the CAPs environmental performance, a report by the European Court of Auditors finds. As well as critique of the current greening measures, the ECA report provided a set of recommendations to improve environmental performance in the upcoming CAP reform. […]

Crucial EFA Pesticide Vote in Parliament Wednesday

June 11, 2017 Oliver Moore

A vote in the European Parliament this coming Wednesday 14th June will be crucial in deciding whether pesticides will be banned from Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs). It is a simple majority vote by MEPs, and it is likely to be tight. Here we outline what you can do, make the case for keeping pesticides out of EFAs, and myth bust some common misconceptions on pesticides and EFAs. […]

CAP Greening | EFAs in Focus

April 17, 2017 Oliver Moore

Using a recent document by the Commission on Ecological Focus Areas – EFAs – this long read traces the story of The Common Agriculture Policy’s EFAs. EFAs are up for discussion and consideration once again, as current Commissioner Phil Hogan seems intent on banning pesticides from these areas. They may, after all, emerge as a way to protect biodiversity and the ecosystem and agri services nature provides. In four parts. […]

Will Pesticides be banned in Ecological Focus Areas?

October 26, 2016 Oliver Moore

Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan appears to be sticking to his guns on the banning of pesticides in Ecological Focus Areas, despite the opposition of 18 EU Member States. So what’s next? […]

CAP Greening Threatens Ecologically Precious Land

March 29, 2016 ARC

Our most environmentally valuable farmland is condemned to a slow death by a combination of EU bureaucracy and national decisions. CAP’s so called greening ties up farmers in bureaucracy, uses valuable public money and still fails to protect nature or the incomes of farmers in marginalised areas adequately. There are however solutions. […]

Ecological Focus Area (EFA) in Germany: good for biodiversity & the tax payer?

October 12, 2015 Sebastian Lakner

Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) were supposed to be a core part of the greening of CAP: public goods – biodiversity protection – for public money – the citizens tax revenue. However EFAs were watered down to the point of near meaninglessness, we argued here in 2014. In this guest blog post by Sebastian Lakner, the poor biodiversity performance of EFAs in Germany is outlined. […]

EFA