New CAP has parallels with Gove’s post-Brexit vision

EU farm ministers have largely agreed the broad basis of the new CAP.

There will be many parallels with the vision for the UK put forward by Defra Secretary Michael Gove.

EU ministers say the CAP after 2020 should target small and medium-sized farmers, rather than large landowners.

This is in line with what Gove is saying. Another similarity is their call for direct payments to be linked to the delivery of ‘public good’ for the environment. One point of difference is that another priority for the EU-27 will be to get more aid to young farmers – in Brussels-speak ‘generational renewal’.

Transition documents around Brexit suggest even after the UK leaves the EU next March it will remain part of the CAP until 2020, when the present policy ends.

In Brussels there is also a growing view that the CAP budget will be protected from cuts, by a mix of not increasing direct payments in line with inflation and an increase in contributions to the overall EU budget from member states.

With perfect timing for a European Commission keen to maintain funding for the post-2020 CAP, a report has shown over 60% of people believe it delivers benefits beyond farming.

The report is part of a big Eurobarometer study across all member states for the commission’s statistical agency. While there is now a big push for environmental delivery, 55% of people believe the first responsibility of farmers is to provide safe, healthy good quality food. An even higher percentage, 62%, believe that should be the key policy aim of the CAP.

The priority of the CAP for almost half of the 28,000 people questioned were environmental standards and climate change mitigation. The CAP is often criticised, but 45% of those questioned believe the level of support going to farmers was ‘about right’, while a surprising 40% believed farmers should receive more. There is little support for cutting the CAP budget. In the UK figures, the percentage deeming food production important was the same as the EU average.

Those who saw the environment as a priority were below the EU average but there was greater support for animal welfare.

The future of rural development is largely an unknown after Brexit.

In Brussels farm ministers, debating the future of the CAP, have called for the simplification of rural development regulations to ensure more is achieved without the bureaucratic delays that have slowed down past programmes.

This is an issue yet to be addressed in the UK. Under EU rules the UK always received the poorest share of EU rural development funds, whether measured per farmer, per acre or even on the basis of land type and need.

Now outside the EU the Government will have the chance to boost spending and change priorities, should it choose to do so.

Meanwhile EU farm ministers have agreed to press ahead with a plan to make the EU less dependent on the import of protein crops, such as soya. Again this is an issue where the UK will have to decide whether it wants to remain with the EU plan after Brexit.

Michael Gove.