In Strasbourg on Thursday 27 October, the European Parliament called for a post-2020 common agricultural policy (CAP) that helps to create jobs.
“By encouraging intensive production and concentration of farms, the common agricultural policy has had a negative impact on employment”, argued rapporteur Eric Andrieu (S&D, France). His own initiative report on how the CAP can improve job creation in rural areas was adopted without fuss by Parliament (237 votes to 201, with 67 abstentions). Some passages of the draft report were deleted during plenary session voting.
The rapporteur worked from the principle that the current CAP has to be reformed in order to address the four present challenges: food production and security, the environment, climate and land use.
MEPs say that CAP funding should be targeted on small and medium-sized farms, which make up 79% of all farms, and on young farmers in order to boost job creation.
The European Commission is called on to support a competitive and sustainable European agricultural model based on a family-run, diversified and multi-functional farming model. Member states are asked to make full use of all the possibilities provided under the new CAP to support young farmers and new entrants to farming and ensure that measures are complemented by and compatible with provisions under national policies (for example, on land-use, taxation and social security). MEPs say, too, that it is crucial that farmers have access to funding and training in innovative, environmental and diversified activities and that instruments be developed to make access to land possible through, for example, participatory use and management of farmland.
In order to be better able to respond to price volatility, farmers must be able to make use of new risk management instruments and turn more to producer organisations, MEPs say. Alongside this, the Commission should develop more rapid intervention mechanisms that can prevent the most negative effects. Parliament also calls for binding rules on fair payment in the food supply chain and stresses that short supply chains, quality schemes and geographical indications, and organic farming can boost job creation. ( Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)