Between 2016 and 2017, the poverty rate in rural areas fell from 26% to 24% and the share of organic farming area in the EU increased, the European Commission said on Wednesday 17 July.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) indicators contribute to the assessment of the CAP’s performance (178 indicators and more than 900 sub-indicators). They confirm that the CAP is more market-oriented (EU agri-food exports amounted to €137.5 billion in 2018 and the EU's trade balance for agri-food products remains positive at €21.7 billion in 2018). The employment rate in rural areas increased by 2% between 2016 and 2017, from 66% to 68%.
The share of organic farming area continues to grow in the EU. In 2016, it represented 6.7% of total farming area in the EU (11.9 million hectares). In 2017, it reached 7% of total farming area (12.6 million hectares).
Other indicators: - ecological focus areas increased slightly between 2016 and 2017, from 11.1 million hectares in 2016 to 11.4 million hectares in 2017; - the recent increase of ammonia emissions from agriculture has slowed down, stabilising at 3.61 million tonnes in 2016, from 3.60 million tonnes in 2015. For more information: https://bit.ly/2tj7BPu (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)