EURACTIVE: New CAP Can Make EU Farming Profitable, Spanish Farmers Say

July 26, 2016 I BY: LAURA CRISTOBAL Spanish farmers consider the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as an opportunity to cut red tape and make environmental measures more efficient. But in order for EU farming to become more profitable and sustainable, structural reforms are needed. According to Spanish farmers, the new CAP poses a big challenge: provide farmers with a more efficient and dynamic framework to allow them to better manage the market and at the same time confront crises like the Russian embargo or the end of milk quotas. The new CAP could be also a good tool to tackle price volatility and increase the competitiveness of the EU agri-food sector, they noted. Red tape burden Bureaucracy and administrative simplification are “hot” issues for the new CAP. Reducing red tape would help farmers comply with the ‘greening’ (environmental) requirements of the new CAP, and also the new norms contained in trade agreements between the EU and third countries to better optimise the EU’s production model. To read the full article, please click here.