Recent content by Cap Reform.eu

Long-term structural change in EU agriculture Written by Alan Matthews The reduction in the number of farms and farmers in the EU has attracted increasing attention in this EU legislative period. It has been a distinctive message of the Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, who...

Target-compatible Environmental Payments under the CAP – Economic Requirements and Legal Scope Written by Rudolf Mögele and Martin Scheele This guest post is contributed by Prof. Dr. Rudolf Mögele and Prof. Dr. Martin Scheele. Prof. Dr. Rudolf Mögele is Honorary Professor at the University of...

What does the Commission’s proposed 2040 climate target mean for agriculture? Written by Alan Matthews On 6 February last, the Commission published its Communication Securing our future: Europe’s 2040 climate target and path to climate neutrality by 2050 building a sustainable, just and...

Who feeds Europe, and how much do they earn? Written by Alan Matthews One of the demands in the ongoing farmer protests is for fair prices and a fair income. But how many farmers are there and what do individual farmers earn? In my previous post, I examined income trends at an aggregate level...

What is actually happening with agricultural incomes? Written by Alan Matthews Farming protests are currently taking place in several European countries. Several reasons are advanced for what is prompting these demonstrations – concerns over incomes and rising costs, the burden of additional...

The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change 2024 progress report and agricultural emissions reduction Written by Alan Matthews The newly established European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC) first made its mark when delivering its advice to the Commission in...

European Parliament polling reaches tipping point for right-of-centre majority Written by Alan Matthews Latest polling results from the three institutions that provide regular updates on seat projections for the European Parliament elections in June 2024 now point for the first time to the...

Contrasting recent decisions on pesticides Written by Alan Matthews During the past week, I was intrigued by a post on the social media platform X from Pascal Canfin, Chair of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety in the European Parliament which in translation read: “We...

Trilogues begin on the Certification Framework for Carbon Removals Regulation Written by Alan Matthews The Commission put forward its legislative proposal for a Certification Framework for Carbon Removals (CFCR) in November 2022. The Regulation has the two broad objectives to define quality...

Europe’s future of food – articulating food security, sovereignty and sustainability Written by Alan Matthews I was pleased to be invited to give a talk at the EIT Food conference on the future of food last Thursday where the organisers had given me the very ambitious title at the head of this...

How to advance the green transition in the next CAP post 2027 Written by Alan Matthews Even though the latest changes in the CAP regulations only came into force on 1 January this year, attention is already beginning to focus on potential further changes to the CAP after the end of the current...

Carbon removal certification and carbon farming Written by Alan Matthews The concept of ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions enshrined as the EU target in the European Climate Law implies that there will continue to be ‘unavoidable’ emissions in 2050 which will need to be offset by carbon...

Food prices stabilising but yet to fall Written by Alan Matthews I wrote a blog post in March this year “Food price inflation gathers pace” which used inflation data up to February. I concluded that post by noting that “the explanation for the continuing rise in food price inflation is mostly...

What can we learn from New Zealand’s experience in introducing a scheme to price agricultural emissions? Written by Alan Matthews The European Union is pondering the possible introduction of a pricing scheme for agricultural emissions as a way to accelerate the reduction in agricultural...

How might the political composition of the European Parliament change in the 2024 elections? Written by Alan Matthews This post first appeared on LinkedIn on June 11, 2023 and is reproduced here without amendment. Since that date there have been national parliamentary elections in Greece and...