For the first time, public good delivery constitutes a significant part of both direct payments and rural development. Under Pillar 1 of the CAP, direct payment eligibility depends on farmers undertaking three basic agronomic practices - crop diversification, the protection of permanent grassland and the allocation of 7 % of farmland as ecological focus areas. Collectively, these are known as the greening component. This new component represents 30% of national funding for Pillar 1.
Furthermore, under Pillar 2 Member States are legally required to spend at least 30 % of their rural development budgets on environmental measures, including commitments in support of organic production and agri-environmental climate protection practices, which go beyond the Pillar 1 greening.
The introduction of greening marks the beginning of a process towards normalizing public good delivery across the entire CAP. Organic farming is deemed to be also a compliant greening factor. This acknowledges the public good delivery aspect of organic farming as the only EU-wide certified, systemic approach to sustainable agriculture. The recognition can be seen as a strong political signal from EU policymakers that they view organic farming as a priority model of agricultural sustainability, and as an active contribution to the protection and enhancement of biodiversity, as well as for climate change mitigation and adaption. On the other hand, the low level of ambition of the greening measures as well as the introduction of questionable exemptions will severely curtail the potential of greening to drive public good delivery. For instance, in the European Commission’s original proposals the greening component referred to all farms. However, in the final political agreement the measures are targeted primarily at arable farmers and will probably have very little impact on livestock farming. The concept of equivalency, whereby practices undertaken as part of agri-environmental measures or special certification schemes exempt farmers from greening requirements, also weakens the greening component. Ultimately, therefore, achieving a genuine paradigm change in agricultural sustainability will require corrections and improvements to be made in subsequent reforms.
The implementation of CAP regulations regarding the perspective of organic farming defines the recognition of impact on greening. The opposing effect could be expected if Member States use the recognition as a reason for neglecting the support of organic farming under Pillar 2. Thus, the Member States have to guarantee a more positive and functional promotion for the headway towards sustainable agriculture in Europe. It is considered that greening concept is coherent with strong support for organic farming under Pillar 2.
The support for the organic farming is founded in the demands set up under EU Regulation (EC) No 834/2007, and also through national legislation. It influences the coverage of the greening objectives. Thus, the Pillar 2 payments must therefore ensure explicit sustenance for organic farming, with admission playing as a positive signal of the EU’s obligation to sustainability that can help to drive agro-ecological conversion throughout Europe.
The orientation of Pillar 1 regarding public goods provision is a welcome progress; measures under Pillar 2 are the basic exploiter for the growth of organic farming and considerable sustainability in rural areas.
During the new rural development programming period of 2014 to 2020, the organic farming is regarded as a step in its own right, giving opportunity to certify organic farmers or groups of farmers for a period of five to seven years, on a per-hectare basis. Payments are designed to compensate farmers for additional costs incurred and income foregone, and to cover transaction costs such as increased management efforts, certification costs and training and advice. Today, most authorities in the Member States offer organic support payments under their national or regional rural development programmes (RDPs). However, support levels differ between and within Member States, and they often fail to adequately cover all the extra costs, or to take into account the reduction in yields organic farmers might face. Therefore, organic farming support payments must represent a significant top-up compared to conventional farm support payments, in order to provide farmers with strong incentives to convert to and maintain organic farming. In the new programming period, organic farmers are also still eligible for optional agri-environment-climate payments that go beyond the requirements of organic production, such as the preservation of indigenous animal breeds or the conservation of plant genetic resources. However, the provision of combination payments is at the discretion of the Member States; it can be made organic-specific or may apply to all farmers, varying significantly across national and regional RDPs. To stimulate more far-reaching agro-ecological approaches, organic farming systems should be clearly prioritised under new agri-environment-climate schemes.
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi-ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
