The conclusions of the roundtable on the future of EU agriculture call for a shift away from land-based subsidies towards more support for small farms and incentives for producers who go green while supporting demand for healthy and sustainable diets.

After nearly eight months of closed-door discussions, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the conclusions of the ‘Strategic dialogue on the future of EU agriculture’ at a press conference on Wednesday (4 September).

The initiative, which she unveiled in September 2023 to address “polarisation” in the food sector, kickstarted in January amid bloc-wide farmers protests.

“We must (…) and will do more to protect our farmers and to make the agrifood system more resilient, competitive, but most importantly, also more sustainable,” von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

Negotiations between the participants resulted in a 110-page document calling on the EU executive to make a U-turn on agrifood policy.

Stakeholders are pushing for conspicuous changes to the bloc’s farming subsidies, including moving away from hectare-based payments to more targeted income support.

Participants also want to reshape how sustainable agriculture practices fit into the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Rather than imposing additional green rules on farmers, they call for a focus on incentives and enforcing the bloc’s existing environmental legislation.

The conclusions are expected to have concrete political consequences, with von der Leyen pledging to use them when putting together the vision for the sector she will unveil “in the first 100 days of the next mandate” – so by March 2025.

A few months later, by July at the latest, the Commission must present its proposal for the next EU seven-year budget, which will earmark the funds for the CAP after 2027.

Support for those “who need it the most”

At the heart of the recommendations is a proposed change to how CAP payments are distributed to farmers.

The report says that current area-based payments are “mostly unrelated to socio-economic needs” and that income support should reach “active farmers who need it the most.”

To this end, stakeholders call to set up an “independent task force” to assess the most appropriate mechanisms to target income aids better.

For environmental NGOs, this new approach of targeted income was urgently needed.

“These sweeping changes shows how broken EU farming policy is,” said Greenpeace EU Agriculture Policy Director Marco Contiero in a press release, adding that subsidising the largest landowners was “not helping the majority of farmers.”

Young farmers would benefit from a special loan package implemented by the European Investment Bank.

“[This] provides young farmers with practical pathways in the sustainable transition by stating that no one is obliged to do the impossible alone,” reads a press release by the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA), adding that the package will be worth €3 billion.

New path to green farms

Stakeholders are also suggesting a shift in how sustainability is approached under the CAP.

Under the current scheme, direct payments to farmers are tied to compliance with a set of Good Agriculture and Environmental Conditions (GAECs), which include various green practices such as laying land fallow.

In contrast, the new report does not mention GAECs but calls to “properly reward and incentivise farmers” that adopt sustainable practices beyond what EU legislation requires.

The chair of the Strategic Dialogue, Professor Peter Strohschneider, told Euractiv that “the better the incentivizing, the less regulation is needed.”

EU lawmakers have already relaxed most of the current requirements a few months ago.

“We have already started a new approach that is [based on] more trust in the farmers and less micromanagement but better incentives,” von der Leyen said in the press conference.

At the same time, the report demands dedicated funds to finance the green transition. It calls for a “Temporary Just Transition Fund (AJTF)” and a “nature restoration fund,” both of them to be set up outside the CAP.

Sustainable diets

The report addresses controversial topics such as diets and livestock farming, where stakeholders have traditionally opposing views.

It acknowledges a shift “towards a reduction of consumption of certain animal-based products and an increased interest in plant-based proteins” and urges the EU executive and member states to adopt “demand-side policies”. This would promote the availability of healthier and less resource-intensive food choices for consumers.

The conclusions also mention voluntary buy-out schemes to compensate livestock farmers for closing their businesses in the most polluted areas.

The AJTF would provide financial assistance for such measures in areas with a high concentration of livestock.

Strategic Dialogue 2.0

While the Strategic Dialogue was due to end after the drafting of the report, the conclusions propose the creation of a “European Board of Agriculture and Food” where stakeholders can discuss policy developments on a regular basis.

The board would consist of high-level representatives appointed by the Commission tasked with advising the EU executive on sustainability policy.

In particular, they would “address inconsistencies (…) between EU standards and market developments” by monitoring public and private initiatives in the sector.

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