Tag: Common Agricultural Policy

The Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) are responsible for the flow of information, knowledge, and innovation between the actors of the agricultural and food sector, as well as between those engaged in education, research, and extension. Strengthening cooperation and interaction between actors has become a cross-cutting objective of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The CAP Strategic Plans in the Member States aim to develop agriculture through two interventions (support of EIP operational groups and the provision of knowledge exchange and dissemination actions). However, the AKIS goes beyond the CAP support, as several additional actions and incentives under national competence are needed for a modern, knowledge-based agricultural economy and well-functioning AKIS. Each EU Member State has developed its own AKIS, according to its specific conditions and needs. Previous studies on the comparison of AKIS across Member States have attempted to collect and analyse the specificities of each Member State, mainly through primary data collection. These studies are less capable of providing an objective comparison of AKIS systems in the Member States based on a common methodology. Although there are several indicator systems available to measure innovation performance, these indicator systems address the national/regional innovation performance but do not ...

Under the latest reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, 2015 was the first year when greening requirements were implemented. Legal rules obliged farmers to move towards more environmentally-friendly land use practices. The aim of this paper is to present the first effects of the implementation of greening in Poland. The paper is based on an FADN panel of 7.4 thousand private farms participated in the Single Area Payment Scheme in Poland. The sample also enabled to identify organisational changes in agricultural production after greening. Results suggest that Polish farms have adapted well to greening requirements and the new system has not caused productivity and profitability of Polish farms to decrease in 2015.

This paper provides an insight into the major policy measures that influenced Romanian agriculture before and after the country’s accession to the European Union (EU) in January 2007. It analyses the volume and composition of national and EU agricultural financial support between 2002 and 2012, and assesses how much has been transferred between agricultural farm support (Pillar 1) and rural development (Pillar 2). The findings show that, as membership drew near, Romania increased its efforts to provide farm support. The level of support has continued to rise (in nominal terms) year on year, from EUR 242 million in 2002 to almost EUR 600 million in 2005. By 2007, over EUR 1 billion (10 per cent of the Gross Value Added of the sector) was allocated to agriculture. Moreover, preparation for accession meant also significant changes in the structure of subsidies. This was redesigned so to emulate the Common Agricultural Policy, shifting the emphasis of support on to direct farm income. Overall, Romanian agriculture benefited from EUR 16.4 billion in subsidies between 2002 and 2012, of which almost half (EUR 7.8 billion) came from the EU. With accession, the share of EU financial support has increased, particularly in the form of ...

Sustainable rural development is one of the social, economic and territorial cohesion aspects of the European Union. In the current financial perspective 2007-2013 rural areas development is supported by the Common Agricultural Policy, which does not always contribute to improvement of their vitality and cohesion with urban areas. The main theses organising the analyses presented in this paper are as follows: The problem lies in the division of the funds into particular priorities of rural development and the rural development is still dominated by the agriculture approach. The European Commission and the Member States’ approaches to rural development focus on agricultural production and improving its conditions or environment protection. Cohesion Policy instruments intervention will be an essential condition for sustainable rural areas development. One of the key research issues concerned with rural areas development is territorial orientation in programming of the Structural Funds in the next financial perspective 2014-2020. Integrated rural development requires different instruments of development in order to stimulate non-agricultural economic, social and cultural activity of rural residents.