ALPA at the table discussing the future of CAP and farmers in the EU
ALPA, as a member of the Access to Land European network, was invited to a Brussels seminar between January 29 and 30, organized as part of one of the network’s projects. The objective was to learn about the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP, in Romanian Politica Agricolă Comună – PAC) and place it in the context of access to land.
What is CAP?
CAP is an agricultural policy of the European Commission. It aims to subsidize agricultural production and rural development, as well as contributing to climate action. Citizens of the European Union member states engaged with agricultural production can apply for the subsidy if they can meet certain conditions. As it is important for ALPA’s work to find ways to support farmers, we were happy to accept the invitation and send our fresh team member, Bori Láng, to tap into the process of understanding CAP.
Speakers
The keynote speakers of the first day of the seminar attempted to summarize the history, operation, criteria system and application possibilities of CAP. We could hear insightful presentations of Sophie Helaine, head of unit policy performance, DG AGRI at European Commission; Marco Contiero, EU policy director on agriculture at Greenpeace European Unit; William Loveluck, researcher at Terre de Liens federation in France and last but not least Germain Haumont, lawyer in public and environmental law, lecturer and researcher at UC Louvain – Saint-Louis Bruxelles.
After the presentations and the exchange of ideas, we understood that despite the fact that it gives the opportunity to consider the voice of farmers, mediated by the European Parliament, and is thus a useful tool for supporting production, CAP is by far perfect.
Conclusions
It became clear that one of the less advantaged producer groups is small scale farmers, as they don’t fall into the “target” group of CAP, especially if they only produce for self-sufficiency or semi-subsistence. Besides, huge and intensive farms, since they are usually self-sustained, sometimes disregard EU CAP good practices because they don’t even demand that subsidy. Possible solutions for these deficiencies could be different forms of cooperation, so that small farmers could apply with a larger land area by engaging into common stewardship of farmlands; in addition, a general EU regulation outside of the CAP could guide the methods of large producers to become more economical and environmentally friendly (the eg. regenerative and organic).
We also discussed that currently, in most European countries (and globally), agricultural production costs are high and it is not profitable to sell at current prices, so the majority of producers depend on CAP support. However, to change the situation, fairer prices would first be needed, so that support is only a supplement and not a necessity. This statement forms the basis of the proposal presented on the second day of the conference by ECVC (European Coordination Via Campesina). In addition, we were able to gain insight into the amendment proposal formulated by IFOAM (Organic Movement) as well, which will be published later on this year.
Another challenge of the agricultural sector nowadays is the lack of generation renewal. Although CAP is trying to boost it by supporting young farmers, it does not make the transition easier for people who are new to production and have no agricultural experience and do not possess the startup capital. A feasible remedy to the challenge would be the creation of Incubator Farms, infrastructure and land provided by the municipality or support organisations for a 1-2 year trial period for people who want to try farming, but are not yet committed enough to invest in the idea. The initiative (RENETA) already operates in 80 locations in France and would be worth further expanding and developing.
We can conclude that without sensitizing, people can find the regulations overwhelming and do not feel the need to consider them (e.g. farmer demonstration in 2024). Due to bureaucracy, producers often avoid applying, especially in Romania. This is where the role represented by ALPA as a facilitator of information flow comes into play. We understand that a more simplified version in extent and not content should be promoted among local stake-holders – the European Commission counts on constructive criticism of farmers. We are looking forward to finding ways to work together with the Access to Land Network to bring closer local and large scale stake-holders and promote agoecological food production.
