European organic grouping IFOAM EU says that reform of the EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) must more proactively encourage and support development of sustainable agricultural models like organic farming. The group has also warned pressure to allow member states “higher levels of subsidiarity and flexibility” in how they interpret environmental measures must not be allowed to lead to fragmented farming policy across Europe.
Commenting after a meeting last week of EU Agriculture Ministers, Jan Plagge, IFOAM EU, vice-president stated: “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.”
“Giving countries some flexibility to implement the CAP is necessary, but this should not lead to fragmenting the farming system in Europe”
Laurent Moinet, 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.”