The future of agriculture and the post-2027 common agricultural policy
The European Parliament adopted by 393 votes to 145, with 123 abstentions, a resolution on the future of agriculture and the post-2027 common agricultural policy.
Towards competitive and sustainable agriculture
Parliament advocated, within the framework of the next multiannual financial framework (MFF), allocating a specific and larger budget for the CAP, indexed for inflation. It strongly opposed Member States being allowed to use the CAP budget as part of an overall envelope for purposes other than agriculture.
Members want the CAP to remain a separate and distinct policy and firmly reject any proposal to integrate the CAP budget into a single fund with other policies or funds. They insisted on the need for the CAP to retain its separate legal and institutional status for the period after 2027. The CAP budget must remain an autonomous, distinct, specific budget tailored to the particular needs of the European agricultural sector.
Parliament stressed that sustainable food and agricultural production plays a greater strategic role in the new geopolitical context as a key element of European security, stability and sovereignty as well as its strategic autonomy, and that the size and framework of the CAP budget must reflect this.
With a view to strengthening the position of farmers in national and transnational agri-food supply chains and ensuring fair remuneration for their products and work, Members called on the Commission to consider introducing new instruments to avoid farmers from receiving prices for their products that are below the costs of production.
The resolution stressed the importance of preserving and strengthening direct income support to meet the needs of all professional farmers operating under the CAP (including multi-active farmers), regardless of farm size and type of production. It reiterated the importance of an area-based model, which should be combined with increased support for the most vulnerable farmers.
Members stressed the importance of transparency in the allocation of CAP funds and called for the systematic identification of final beneficiaries. They called for the establishment of control mechanisms to prevent the concentration of aid through complex ownership structures or an artificial fragmentation of farms.
Parliament called on the Commission and the Member States to maintain the voluntary nature of eco-schemes and to make them simpler and more flexible in the post-27 CAP. It called for a strong and independent second pillar of the CAP, separate from but closely coordinated with cohesion policies. It also called on the Commission to adopt concrete measures to ensure that imports of agri-food products from third countries meet the same environmental, social, food safety, and animal welfare standards as EU producers.
Furthermore, an appropriate increase and reform of the common agricultural crisis reserve, combined with the creation of new specific financial instruments, are both essential to support farmers in a context marked by unpredictable market conditions and climate change.
The resolution highlighted the strategic importance of sustainable livestock farming for rural development, biodiversity conservation, landscape management, and environmental sustainability, particularly in less-favoured areas and high-nature landscapes, and stressed the need to provide the sector with adequate financial support to ensure its sustainability. Members reaffirmed the need to develop a comprehensive food strategy for the Union that integrates arable and livestock farming while ensuring fair treatment for all agricultural sectors. Member States are called upon to improve working and social conditions, as well as farmers’ wages.
Simplification
Parliament supports the Commission's objective for the period 2024-2029 to focus on reducing administrative burdens and simplifying legislation as a cross-cutting strategic priority, in order to facilitate access to CAP support and make implementation on the ground more effective. It called for a realistic and incentivising system for farmers, rather than one based solely on obligations to achieve ambitious environmental and social objectives, taking due account of the specificities of geographical areas.
Active farmers must retain the right to continue their current farming activities without facing additional administrative or operational restrictions. The Commission is called upon to encourage farmers to take responsibility by allowing a degree of tolerance and ensuring that penalties are fair and proportionate, in particular with regard to conditionality requirements, as well as voluntary eco-schemes and agri-environment-climate measures.
Water management and circular economy in agriculture
Parliament called on the Commission to provide the CAP after 2027 with a strategic and holistic approach to water resources, to guarantee access to water for sustainable irrigation and to prioritise the promotion of innovative technologies and smart irrigation and the digitalisation of infrastructure to optimise water use.
To ensure sufficient and high-quality food production, Parliament called for investments in the modernisation and development of water retention, distribution and storage infrastructure, as well as in wastewater purification and treatment. Farmers should also be offered incentives for the recovery of biomass, agricultural waste and co-products.
Innovation to continue moving agriculture forward
Parliament called for an ambitious investment package for innovation, technology and applied research adapted to farmers’ needs, financed through the CAP, Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme and other support mechanisms.
All farmers must have access to innovative and digital solutions that support sustainable agriculture, boost their income, and reduce their administrative workload. To minimise stressful farm inspection procedures, Members stated that the monitoring of the use of CAP funds should be based on satellite imagery and self-certification, in a centralised, electronic reporting system.
Generational renewal on farms
Generational renewal is essential for the future of European agriculture, but nearly 58% of EU farmers are over 55 and only 6% are under 35. Members want to increase CAP funding and the number of tax incentives and loans to remove barriers to entry into farming. The specific obstacles faced by women, especially young women, who want to enter the agricultural sector must be addressed.