Europe needs a strong farming policy

"New EU agricultural policy needs adequate funding and new methods to be efficient and sustainable. But let’s not fix it if it’s not broken!", said EPP Group Member Herbert Dorfmann MEP. "The basis of the new CAP must be built on the two-pillared architecture where the fully EU-financed first pillar guarantees efficient support for income." Dorfmann’s Report on the future of food and farming was adopted in the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee today.

"The current CAP has shown that whereas greening had good aims, its methods produced more bureaucracy and harm for farmers than real results. We now need a new method to incentivise farmers to deliver environmental goods. This must be done together with the overall simplification of the regulatory jungle."

"The EPP model is to safeguard local food production in family farms all over Europe. First and foremost, the resources are needed to secure the financing of the real farmers", underlined Dorfmann.

"The next CAP must also better support young farmers to ensure the future of European food production. Safeguarding the long-term investments against the price fluctuations that are threatening farmers’ income is a vital part of encouraging the new generation to step into farmers’ shoes."

"Whatever the future architecture is, it can only deliver its objectives if it is sufficiently funded. The real value of the CAP budget must be increased or maintained if we want to achieve a farming policy that is smart, sustainable and fair", Dorfmann recalled.