THEMES

1. The CAP reform: sustainable development and competitiveness of agricultural systems

We live in Europe: a large continent that, after years of war, hatred and violence, has decided to live in peace. So we have the birth of the European Union, a union of States that have different languages, cultures and traditions but are linked by the same values and the same ideals of peace, equality and freedom.

90% of the land of the European Union is rural land.More than half the inhabitants, about 60% actually, lives in these rural areas.All the inhabitants of the European Union, and of the rest of the world also eat products that come from the EU rural areas every day thanks to commercial trade (exports).

Agriculture is therefore the source of life for millions and millions of people and for this reason European government leaders attribute great importance to it. In 1962 already, 46 years ago, our government leaders decided to join forces to allow all of us to buy at a fare price products that are healthy and guaranteed, therefore, they adopted the CAP - the Common Agricultural Policy.

But what is the CAP and how does it work?

The CAP, whose guiding principles are set by the governments of the EU members States, pursues various objectives. It sets out to:

a) foster the production of food products for the European market and for the world market so that everyone has the opportunity to buy food;

b) support the adoption of production methods that are safe, clean and that respect the environment;;

c) promote the production of quality products that are good for the health of human beings, animals and the Earth;

d) guarantee and safeguard the survival of rural areas as places where we can produce, live, work, relax, travel as tourists and teach our traditions and how to respect the environment.

In short, thanks to the CAP, the European Union farmers receive a sort of wage (direct payments or subsidies) in return for respecting the environment, food safety, plant health and the welfare of animals. The principle that rules this kind of exchange between the EU and its farmers is called conditionality.

After the enlargement of the European Union, which took place between 2004 and 2007 and led to an increase in the number of member States from 15 to 27, the number of EU farmers went up to 13 million: on average, the CAP costs each of us 2? a week, about 110? a year. European farmers are free to produce what they want on their land, so long as they respect the vocation and the typicalness of their area, according to consumer demand and market needs.

So, today, in the European Union, everything is produced:

View production rates
View production graph

Moreover they provide Energy sources like biomass, that derives from the processing of agricultural raw materials such as wood, crops, forest and agricultural residues, and organic waste. Biomass can be burnt as biofuels that are used to run tractors, farm machinery and vehicles and, in the near future, also aeroplanes.