The “green architecture” of the post2020 CAP will offer new opportunities
The congress “The green architecture of the CAP post 2020. Deepening in eco-schemes”, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, has been closed last Friday in Zafra (Badajoz), with the participation of more than 170 participants of 16 Member States.
Inaugurated on May 29, the congress was attended by representatives of the European Commission, the Romanian and Finnish Presidencies, as well as research and technology centers from Spain, Portugal and France, as well as farmers’ organizations, ecologists and civil society. .
The Congress discussed the environmental challenges facing European agriculture and the environmental reality of the southern countries. The role of eco-schemes has been addressed, a new instrument that will encourage agricultural and livestock practices with greater beneficial impact on the climate and the environment. Experiences developed to improve the adaptation of agriculture to environmental changes, the improvement of the use of resources or the enhancement of biodiversity in the farms have also been exposed.
Among the conclusions, as a result of the debates, the participants agreed that the proposal of the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reinforces its environmental and climatic aspects, contemplated in the so-called “green architecture”. This circumstance generates opportunities for the agricultural and livestock sector, as well as responding to the expectations of European consumers and citizens.
The new governance model proposed in the reform, oriented to results, will allow a better analysis of the needs and will promote the programming of beneficial interventions for the environment.
The eco-schemes, incentive for a more sustainable agriculture
The new model must make it possible to attend to the specificities of the different agricultures that make up the European map and, at the same time, to ensure that the common character of the CAP is preserved. In addition, it is necessary to ensure balance and coherence between all environmental interventions in the future strategic plans of the new CAP.
The relevance of eco-schemes as an incentive instrument for producers to move towards a more sustainable agricultural system, more competitive and able to respond to the demands of citizens has been highlighted.
The eco-schemes should remunerate practices that go beyond the minimum environmental requirements of the European Union and should be flexible so that they accommodate the different community productive realities, without generating an excessive administrative burden. A flexibility that is essential to capture the reality of the regions particularly affected by the effects of climate change such as those in southern Europe.
The initiatives developed by farmers in response to environmental challenges demonstrate the involvement of producers and that they are the main driving force towards a more sustainable agricultural model.
