With farmers’ protests still very present in several member states and the European elections on their heels, Brussels is trying to calm the waters again. Yesterday, the Community Executive proposed new measures that aim to alleviate “the administrative burden” of the sector, and that will especially affect small agricultural holdings, those of less than 10 hectares, which are to be exempt from controls and sanctions in environmental requirements. .
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, advanced the measures to the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, in a phone call, when its farmers have been protesting for weeks, also over the entry of products from Ukraine. Specifically, the Commission has proposed a battery of measures that limit the environmental requirements that farmers are obliged to comply with the new common agricultural policy (CAP); a total of ten standards with environmental and climate commitments.
Thus, changes are proposed so that farmers with small farms are exempt from controls and sanctions in case of non-compliance with conditionality measures. This would respond to part of the demands of the sector, which regrets the excess of burdens and measures that must be taken since the new CAP was adopted, just two years ago, such as the new environmental standards. According to the Community Executive, the measure could benefit 65% of the CAP beneficiaries, but it allows the environmental ambitions to be maintained, because these types of surfaces only represent 9.6% of the total that receives aid from the CAP. agricultural policy.
Likewise, Brussels also adds other specific modifications. For example, they will no longer have to meet a minimum percentage of agricultural land dedicated to non-productive land, including fallow land. From being mandatory, it will move to a system of incentives, known as ecoschemes, which are bonuses and aid to ranchers and farmers so that sustainable practices are taken into account and in accordance with the fight against climate change.
Another issue is rotation in cropland, where farmers will be able to choose between this rotation or supporting crop diversification, depending on conditions. Likewise, countries will also have more flexibility on minimum land cover in “sensitive periods.” Regarding the latter, it will be easier for them to define what a sensitive period is, especially with increasingly extreme climatic situations, with periods of drought or floods.
Precisely because of the climate crisis, farmers are the first to be affected by adverse weather conditions. For this reason, and if they are prevented from properly working their lands, governments may apply temporary exceptions in which they will be exempt from meeting the requirements for a limited time. Another novelty is that plowing and restoration of permanent pastures will be allowed in places protected by the Natura 2000 network (until now, it was prohibited) in case some pastures are damaged by invasive species or predators.
The European Commission insists that its measures are “sufficiently calibrated and limited in time” to continue maintaining the same level of environmental ambition of the CAP, and they are expected to be approved next month by Parliament and the countries. Likewise, Brussels rejects accusations that the level of climate action is reduced in favor of farmers and does not believe that there is a dichotomy between the environment and agriculture. “Farmers are going through serious difficulties, but these proposals do little to remedy them and simply eliminate some of the last loopholes of environmental protection in EU agricultural policy,” Greenpeace criticized yesterday. The agricultural sector is responsible for 11% of polluting emissions in the EU.
