EU CAP reform: IFOAM EU calls for a clear framework

There was no agreement on the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) reform for 2020 at the last meeting of the Agriculture Ministers on Monday 19 March. They were unable to agree on common conclusions on the Commission communication on "The future of food and farming", an important milestone in the discussion.

“greening” should be replaced by a more ambitious eco-scheme

Jan Plagge, IFOAM EU, Vice-President stated that: “The new CAP has to move away from compensating farmers for forgone income, towards rewarding them for the delivery of essential public goods for all Europeans, such as clean water, more biodiversity and animal welfare. The whole architecture of the CAP has to reward green performance and not just parts of it. Pillar I in particular needs to deliver results for the environment and “greening” should be replaced by a more ambitious eco-scheme that encourages all farmers to shift to more sustainable practices and that allows the development of highly sustainable agricultural models like organic farming.”



Laurent Moinet, IFOAM EU, Chair of the IFOAM EU Farmers Group reiterated this message by adding that: “Giving countries some flexibility to implement the CAP is necessary, but this should not lead to fragmenting the farming system in Europe. Flexibility and simplification should not come at the expense of a common EU framework that sets clear, ambitious and measurable objectives. The CAP must remain a European policy that sets common objectives for the benefit of farmers, rural communities, consumers and the environment.”