100 posts
The Polish Presidency and Agriculture: A Mixed Performance
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The Polish Presidency was not focusing especially on agriculture but has reached some important results as well as missed some opportunities depending on which side of the coin one looks.
Proposals for a greener PAC policy: a source of debate
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While key farmers’ organizations voice criticism of the European Commission´s commitment to fostering a greener Common Agricultural Policy (PAC), organic producers welcome proposed changes as they think these are positive steps toward more susta...
Green space controversy grows
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The controversy over the so-called 'Green Space' in the CAP reform proposals is growing: Green Space A somewhat embattled farm commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, is insistent that the proposals do not amount to set aside. As farm as farm organizations ar...
EU agricultural policy: Responding to the crisis?
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From VoxEU: "As Europe battles a life-threatening crisis, the European Commission has found time to discuss the much-maligned Common Agricultural Policy. This column, by the former OECD Director for Trade and Agriculture, argues that far from sei...
Cioloş defends plans to reform EU farm policy
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Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş faced a barrage of criticism yesterday (7 November) over plans to overhaul the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) before a rare gathering of national farm ministers and members of the European Parliament.
Is Europe losing touch with reality?
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Stefan TangermannIs Europe losing touch with reality? One might think so given the surprise Greek decision to hold a referendum on the austerity package. The fear of contagion is very real and if the euro is confined to a small core of northern me...
CAP reform proposals have no friends
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The Commission's proposals for the reform of the CAP have not gone down well in any quarter and have managed to draw fire from Britain and France: Reform Of course, it was ever thus and one is never going to devise a reform that is welcomed in all q...
No great suprises in CAP reform proposals
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There are no great surprises in the widely leaked Commission proposals for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy released today: CAP reform Also, not surprisingly, UK ministers have criticised the proposals as inadequate.The reform proposals have...
Enlargement and new agriculture policy
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This summer we announced that we will welcome Croatia as the 28th EU Member State in 2013 if the remaining reforms are implemented according to the timetable. The news on EU enlargement from today’s meeting with the College of Commissioners is...
Eurobarometer on CAP reform
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New poll shows public support for main thrust of the Commission's reform plans...
How will Rural Development funds be allocated among the member states?
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Simulations of different criteria for the distribution of Pillar 2 funds in the Commission’s draft impact assessment show how political is the choice of objective criteria.
EU sugar refiners want EU to abolish duty on sugar imports
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The European Union should abolish a 98 euros ($137) a metric ton duty on sugar imports from a group of countries including Brazil and Australia to ensure refiners have “fair access” to raw materials, an industry group said. The EU suspended th...
Commission’s impact assessment of direct payments changes
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Commission impact assessment confirms very limited redistribution across Member States under the preferred option in the multiannual financial framework.
Sugar quotas to go
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The EU is to end sugar quotas and guaranteed minimum prices in 2016. This represents a one year extension after the scheduled end to quotas to give producers more time to adjust: Sugar It is hoped that the change will boost output and reduce prices...
Greening element in CAP reform increased
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The European Commission is proposing to increase the greening element in the CAP reform in relation to Pillar 1 measures: Greening The proportion of farmland to be placed in ecological measures would be increased from the previously proposed 5 per c...
Leaked EU Texts Reveal Greener Farm Policy, ‘Recoupling’ Plans
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Via Scoop.it – The Great TransitionLeaked EU draft texts confirm expectations that the 27-member bloc is likely to seek to ‘green’ farm subsidy payments after 2013 by adding new rules on protecting the environment. Controversially, though,...
Draft market organisation regulation confirms market orientation with safeguards
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The end of sugar quotas and a strengthened market disturbance clause are the highlights of the draft proposal on common market organisations.
Leaked rural development regulation has few surprises
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Greater flexibility in how the money can be spent will be welcomed by Member States.
Leaked legislative proposals anticipate Commission CAP reform proposals due October 12th
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Compulsory greening the biggest surprise in draft Commission regulation on direct payments after 2013. Commission sets goal of uniform direct payment per ha across all Member States by 2029.
Farm incomes up
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Farm incomes are up in the EU, but there is considerable variation across member states. EU farm incomes jumped by almost 13% last year, thanks to higher crop and milk prices, but the UK was among just seven member states to see a drop.The biggest i...
Informal meeting of the agriculture and fisheries ministers
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An informal meeting of agriculture and fisheries ministers organised by the Polish Presidency of the EU Council and chaired by Marek Sawicki, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, will be held on 11-13 September in Wrocław. The meeti...
EU CAP review: vestiges of the past instead of signpost to the future
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Via Scoop.it – The Great Transition“this new “modernisation” of the CAP is continuing business as usual, with a bit of “greening” and a few technical improvements and simplifications here and there, but it does next to nothing to...
The Great EU Olive Oil Gravy Train
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There are aproximately 500 million olive tree‘s planted across southern Europe. The eurozone produces around 75% of the worlds olive oil. Now if you are not involved in the olive oil industry you may be thinking so what? I just … Continue...
New member states call for fairer CAP
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A group of former Soviet Bloc countires have called on the European Commission to act without discrimination towards new member states in its upcoming review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In a joint declaration, agriculture ministers fr...
What future for the CAP financial discipline mechanism?
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Whether direct payments could still be reduced under the financial discipline mechanism in the 2014-20 period and, if yes, how it would work has still not been clarified by the Commission.
Farmers' unions accept CAP budget proposals
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Although they are concerned about particular aspects of the CAP budget proposals, such as the flexibility to transfer funds between the two pillars, farmers leaders are unsurprisingly generally satisfied with the deal against a background of fiscal a...
Commission remains committed to publication of beneficiaries of EU farm aid
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Following the publication of new rules, EU Member State Ministries of Agriculture are required to publish before April 30 2011 detailed figures on all legal persons (companies) which are beneficiaries of Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) funding in...
Towards a fairer EU agriculture policy?
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As the EU embarks on further reform of the Common Agriculture Policy, the Union's newest member states are demanding that their views are taken into account. Agriculture no longer absorbs most of the European Union funds. But even now, when summit...
Coveney, Creighton and Europe
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A lot of people mentioned to me that were surprised that Simon Coveney was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food. To me it was no surprise, not only is Simon popular with farmers, in a Red C Poll for the Irish Farmers Journal Simon was...
Member states’ experts remain at odds over CAP reform
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The views of the member states’ agriculture experts continue to differ on essential points related to the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013, such as the future of the agriculture budget, criteria for the distribution of direct sup...
The CAP towards 2020 - Video interview
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The EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is currently under revision. The Hungarian Presidency is devoting much energy into the reform of the CAP. The Commission has released a communication, the Parliament and the Council are debating it now, lobby...
Ciolos lays it on the line
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Dacian Ciolos has emerged as a more authoritative and decisive farm commissioner than many expected. Whether his line is the correct one is another matter. But the grumpy old man of British farming, Farmers Weekly correspondent David Richardson wri...
EU Farm Workers Get Richer
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This year, as Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, announced Monday, EU farm incomes per worker are up 12.3% after falling 10.7% in 2009.
The future of direct payments: a Scottish view
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The Commission’s November 2010 communication on the future of the CAP post-2013 envisaged that Pillar 1 direct payments might, in future, consist of three elements: a basic income support payment; a green payment; and a natural handicap payment. An...
Poland calls for overhaul of EU agricultural funding
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Poland's top farm official has slated the EU's agricultural policy, or CAP, as "two-speed" and common "only in name," calling for a new system with reduced direct payments for farmers and increased money to help restructure the sector. Speaking to jo...
What has changed in the published Commission communication?
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The formal Commission communication on the future of the CAP published today, and which Jack Thurston has summarised below in his own inimical way, had become available some weeks ago in a leaked version when it went into inter-service consultation.
Blow for farm policy reformers
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CAP reformers have used the publication of detailed figures about who gets what under the farm policy to draw attention to the extent to which big companies and large-scale farmers are beneficiaries.However, the drive for more transparency suffered a...
French environment ministry coming out in favour of a green CAP
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The French Ministry of the environment has spectacularly broken ranks with the Ministry of agriculture by publishing its vision ‘For a sustainable agricultural policy in 2013’. The 17-page document does not beat about the bush: it calls for a rad...
CAP budget may be cut less than expected
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Reports are suggesting that the CAP budget may be cut less than expected: Budget The Commission had at one time been talking of cuts of between 10 and 20 per cent and was seen as a potential ally by reform minded member states. However, these deman...
EU budget review cautious on future spending priorities
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The Commission has published its long-delayed budget review which follows a public consultation on the EU budget which began as a mid-term budget review in 2008-09. An earlier version leaked last year, and apparently drafted by Commission President B...
Commission conclusions on EU budget review: The door for serious CAP reform remains open
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On October 19, the European Commission has finally released its conclusions on the budget review originally due for 2008/09. It compares poorly to the draft document that leaked quite exactly one year earlier. read more...
Weimar triangle fails to work
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Informal groupings of member states have played a key role in the evolution of the CAP at different times. e.g., the 'Aachen five' which tackled agrimonetary questions. Before the publication of the recent Franco-German position paper, it had been su...
Commission leaked draft fails to advance reform debate
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The draft Commission communication on the CAP towards 2020 is an underwhelming document, not just for those seeking to push an ambitious reform agenda but also for those seeking a roadmap to address issues that the Commissioner himself has identified...
The devil is in the detail
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This post looks at some of the more detailed proposals in the leaked draft Commission communication on the future of the CAP.The Commission believes that the CAP should be continue to be framed around two pillars. The idea of a third pillar focusing...
CAP reform paper leaked
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A draft of the EU Commission's 'Communication' on the future of the CAP after 2013 has been leaked. It is scheduled for publication on 17 November. This post examines the overall objectives and directions for reform. A subsequent post will look at...
Comprehensive and authoritative review of CAP
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Review of Arie Oskam, Gerrit Meester and Huib Silvis (eds),EU policy for agriculture, food and rural areas. Published by Wageningen Academic Publishers, ISBN: 978-90-8686-118-7, €40, $60.This book offers a comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-dat...
CAP reform debate hijacked by new priorities
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While the future budget of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is still unclear, growing rhetoric around the concepts of "public goods" and "green growth" suggest that at least some of the money could be shifted to protecting the environment and boo...
The EU should phase out its direct payments to farmers
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For the past 50 years European farmers have benefited from an exceptional set of protection and subsidies. No other group of society, with the exception of coal miners, has ever been so pampered through guaranteed prices and, in the last 15 years, di...
Cur farm aid to one third of budget
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The CAP should be cut to about a third of the EU budget rather than well over 40 per cent as at present, according to budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski: Budget . This would then give more headway for spending on research and innovation.The tar...
Budget DG warns of big CAP cuts
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A spokesman for the Budget DG has warned of big cuts in the CAP budget given the financial situation of the EU: Cuts The CAP share of the EU budget is already expected to decline from 45 per cent to 39 per cent by 2013, but it may need to be cut bac...
Rich Countries' Farm Subsidies Benefiting Royals
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Subsidies for agriculture in the industrialised countries of the world grew again in 2009, benefiting the largest companies and land owners, such as Prince Albert of Monaco and Queen Elizabeth of Britain.The latest increase came despite repeated and...
Ideas from the NFU
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After a long delay, I am returning to the NFU paper on 'The CAP after 2013', this time looking at some of their policy ideas. What guides their thinking is something I would agree with, the need 'to facilitate the creation of fairer and better func...
Why are we so lousy at measuring farmers’ incomes?
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Tumbling farm incomes make good headlines, but the reality is that we don't seem to be able to measure farmers' income in a satisfactory way in the EU.
Agricultural policy priorities of Belgian Presidency
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At the 3026th Council meeting on Agriculture and Fisheries held in Brussels on 12 July 2010, Ms Sabine LARUELLE and Mr Kris PEETERS gave a brief presentation on the Belgian Presidency work programme in the agriculture and fisheries sectors. The agric...
Inside the echo-chamber
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Today and tomorrow, DG Agriculture is organising a tightly controlled, invitation-only 'public conference' on the future of the CAP.
Farmers Want EU Door Wide Open
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There is still a chance to improve access to the European Union (EU) for SA 's agricultural products, before an economic partnership agreement for southern Africa is concluded this year, says trade and industry deputy director-general Xavier Carim.
Fair price for a fair day’s work
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That’s the battle cry of farmers who see their income fall as supermarket profit margins rise. The supermarkets have their own culprit: the politicians. See this video clip.
Disclosure of subsidies may end
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Transparency in the CAP may be reduced with a ruling which suggests that EU rules which require member states to publish details of payments to individual farmers may be invalid. An opinion by an ECJ Advocate General is often indicative of the view...
Agriculture and Britain’s EU entry
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In the long and frustrating decade from 1962 to 1972 when Britain had at length decided that it wanted to join the European Economic Community (as ot then was), agriculture proved to be the most difficult issue to be resolved - not just for British f...
Which member states pay for wasteful farm income support?
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The closer that CAP reform negotiations come to the finish line, the more will member states look at their financial bottom line. ‘How much do we pay, how much do we get?’ That question will concern finance ministers and heads of states at least...
Let CAP take the Lyon’s share
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Two weeks ago, in Merida (Spain), the UK’s new Agriculture Minister Caroline Spelman called for “reduction and re-orientation” of EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) spending. “We cannot leave aside the fact that Europe is without money”, s...
CAP consultation draws a big crowd
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The consultation on the future of the CAP has been so popular that the deadline has been extended: Deadline 3,700 responses have been received, although that is not so many when one considers the size of the EU. I also wonder how many of them were...
Call for tenders for a study on the contribution of CAP measures to
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The European Commission has launched a call for tenders for a study on "Addressing Biodiversity and Habitat Preservation through Measures applied under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)".The objective of this study is to identify and assess CAP me...
A three pillar CAP?
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Two pillars are not enough for a sustainable future for the CAP, say leading agricultural economists.
How the NFU sees the challenges
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After some delay, I am returning to the NFU paper on 'The CAP after 2013.' I would agree with their basic definition of the challenges facing farming: 'Put simply, farmers across the world will be required to produce considerably more food, from fin...
£60 million fine for Northern Ireland for CAP Errors
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Northern Ireland gets some £300 million per year in CAP subsidy payments, but now the Executive (regional government) will be fined (or disallowed) £60 million for what seems to be a list of serious errors. The BBC has reported that claims were awa...
Farmers' group in appeal over agriculture policy
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A parliamentary hearing on the EU's agriculture policy heard that "direct payments" to farmers "must continue" after 2013. Gerd Sonnleitner said this was all the more important at a time of market volatility and growing world food demand.
Ag econ folks give it large to SFP
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The intention of the European Commission to retain the SFP as the centre piece of the CAP after 2013 is a fundamental error according to leading agricultural economists. In a paper by David Harvey and colleagues to the Agricultural Economics Society...
What future for ACP agricultural products in the new CAP?
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On 25-28 May, Tradecom Facility organized an Expert Meeting on the trade of ACP agricultural products within the new European Union Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). During the meeting, Assistant Secretary-General of the ACP Group of States, Mr Achil...
Farmers oppose relaunch of EU-Mercosur trade talks
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The European Union and the Mercosur group of four South American countries relaunched talks on Monday (17 May) aimed at creating the world's largest trading bloc despite warnings that a deal could hurt EU farmers.
EU rural development and ‘semi-literate farmers’
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An ambitious policy: “The EU’s rural development policy is all about meeting the challenges faced by our rural areas, and unlocking their potential.” Especially the ‘new’ EU member states hoped to benefit from these fund...
The development angle
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The CAP is still hurting developing countries, say the UN and the OECD. But will European development NGOs engage in the battle over the future of the CAP?
EU: Copa-Cogeca - Maintaining direct aid essential
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Leaders of European agricultural and cooperative organisations (Copa and Cogeca) adopted a position, on 4 May, in favour of a “strong post-2013 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)” which, according to them, “will be more essential than ever”.
EU sugar companies big winners from CAP subsidies
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Sugar companies were among the largest beneficiaries last year of Europe's Common Agricultural Policy payments, according to statistics made public Saturday by most EU member countries. "Each year there are special payments. For the 2009-2009 period...
Investors pile into farmland
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As Britain's Con-Lib government threatens a big hike in capital gains tax, investors are piling into farms despite the fact that a typical yield on capital in the sector is only 2 per cent (although that is more than you would receive from many depos...
UK minister sees EU allies in CAP reform debate
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The European Union's economic crisis will create allies for a British government seeking to streamline the bloc's farm policy in upcoming reform talks, the new UK agriculture minister said on Monday (17 May).
Productionist emphasis at Defra
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The productionist emphasis at Defra continues with junior ministerial appointments: Defra . Jim Paice, the Minister of State, was substantially involved in the Young Farmers' movement and has been connected with farming all his life. The 'Pussy',...
EU Farm Subsidies: More Important Than Ever
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EU agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos argued recently that the economic crisis justified the need to keep a strong aid policy for Europe's farmers, which developing countries slam as unfair. The economic and financial crises, which have hit consu...
Who will guard the guardians?
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How effective is the evaluation of rural development policy? A practitioner's opinion and a seminar.
CAP consultations & accessible data
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I've noted before that the consultations for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are under way. On the website of the European Commission, you can are already find 564 contributions (7 May 2010) to these consultations, although they a...
Agribusiness is the pathway out of rural poverty
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African governments, donors and the private sector need to act now to turn the world’s 500 million small farms into profitable businesses, said Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). ...
Commissioner Cioloș welcomes new CAP transparency figures
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Under EU rules on transparency, EU Member State Ministries of Agriculture have to publish detailed figures on recipients of Common Agriculture Policy funding in 2009, by midnight tonight (April 30)."While the Common Agriculture Policy provides many b...
Fish & Fields: EU reforms for the better?
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CAP and CFP are the EU abbreviations of the week, but they will remain extremely important for the months to come. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) of the European Union need reform, and with the informal me...
