Our work involves influencing the European policy agenda and in particular reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the related Rural Development Regulation.

European Policy Agenda

Harvesting.
Rural development policy in England, including policy for land management, is heavily influenced by European legislation.


Agricultural policy is embraced within a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which applies across all 25 EU Member States. Support for farming is largely funded by the European Union in Brussels. 

In 2003 a reform of CAP was announced that resulted in the breaking of the link between support payments and production (this is known as decoupling). From January 2005 farmers started to receive a Single Farm Payment that is unrelated to what they produce. In return they are required to keep their land in Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC). Further reforms are anticipated in due course as the European Union responds to the need to reduce all farm subsidies to meet international trade obligations under the WTO and limit the EU budget spent on agricultural support.

Member States have considerable discretion over how the 2003 reform package is implemented. We believe that the following principles should inform decisions on implementing future CAP reforms.

Principles for informing CAP reform

  • Payments to farmers from the public purse should only be made where they provide clearly identifiable public benefits (e.g. conservation of landscape character and biodiversity or provision of additional public access);
  • The 2003 CAP reform package should be seen as a short-term transitional stage towards the phasing out of Pillar I direct payments and market supports;
  • The Single Payment Scheme (SPS) can only be a transitional measure because there is no long-term justification why farm businesses but not other rural businesses should continue to receive an annual payment from the public purse which is not linked to the delivery of public benefits;
  • The Rural Development Regulation (RDR) (Pillar II) provides a good mechanism to deliver public benefits.  Funding for the RDR needs to be expanded to encourage wider uptake of agri-environment schemes, help farming adapt to market needs, support rural communities, and help other rural businesses develop to provide alternative employment opportunities; and
  • The separate purposes of Pillar 1 (funding related to market supports) and Pillar 2 (funding for the delivery of public benefits and to encourange diversification) need to remain distinct.