CAP proposals: The end of GAECs?
The European Commission is proposing to scrap the good agricultural and environmental conditions (GAEC) as part its plan for the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
According to the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, GAECs would be replaced by "protective practices that member states design based on their specific needs, and in line with our steer through recommendations".
Ditching GAECs is just one element of the European Commission's plans to reform the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as part of the proposed EU budget for 2028 to 2034.
The commission has said that the "green transition is at the core of the next EU budget" - the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF).
It has also outlined that "EU farmers will continue to receive the support they need via ring-fenced CAP income support, including area-based payments, coupled income support, investments, support to small and young farmers and incentives for agri-environmental measures".
According to Commissioner Hansen the commission's proposed CAP plan will move from "prescriptive requirements to greater incentives" for farmers.
"Environmental conditionality - called farm stewardship - is streamlined. We maintain the mandatory requirements from applicable legislation.
"Social conditionality remains but we invite member states to be risk-based, not every sector or type of activity poses the same risk. We also remove what is now perceived as double penalty for farmers," he added.
Commissioner Hansen yesterday (Wednesday, July 17) told the European Parliament AGRI Committee that incentives should pay a big role for farmers in the next CAP.
"There is no reason why eco-schemes and agri-environmental measures should be spread across different pillars and be financed under different conditions.
"We merge them into agri-environmental actions, which will be co-financed by member states. Farmers will be financially incentivized to do more for the environment, climate, biodiversity and animal welfare.
"We are also creating a new category of transition payments - in the form of lump sum payments of up to €200,000 - to de-risk a farm's transition to more sustainability".
The commission's proposals for the next CAP emphasis the concept of "farm stewardship" which it states should be established to guarantee compliance.
It sets out that farm stewardship "should include minimum environmental and social conditionality requirements, as well as protective practices designed by member states to deliver on key objectives such as "protection of soils and river courses from pollution".
According to the commission member states should also have the flexibility to adapt "protective practices to their specific geographical and climatic context and production systems including by establishing exemptions".
