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Doc. 9636
12 December 2002
Challenges for a new agricultural policy
Report
Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs
Rapporteur: Mr Nicolaos Floros, Greece, Socialist Group
Summary
Agricultural policies have highlighted the links between the farming sector and rural development, but agriculture alone is not enough for the sustainable development of rural areas.
This report takes stock of the current situation and looks at the challenges for a new agricultural policy not only from the angle of farmers’ expectations but also from those of society in general. It also looks at the integration of agriculture in a European and international framework.
I. Draft resolution
1. The Assembly wishes to emphasise the link between agricultural and forestry policies and rural development. This traditional link is even more relevant today with the development of the concepts of multifunctional and sustainable farming. In addition to producing food supplies and industrial and energy raw materials, agriculture has a duty to help conserve and protect natural resources, landscapes and the countryside, while taking account of human needs and the obligation to respect animals.
2. Agriculture has always been an important economic sector for our countries, both at national and at European level (as demonstrated by the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy), and although its importance has declined in terms of GDP and of the workforce employed, it remains a key sector, especially given its role in providing our population with food supplies in sufficient quantity and quality.
3. Rural areas make up 80% of Europe’s territory and are home to 25% of its population. They are also still very important in terms of employment (agriculture, craft trades, tourism), natural and cultural heritage, the environment and biodiversity and are a major asset for Europe. Efforts therefore need to be made to protect Europe’s countryside and, to this end, to adjust agricultural policies so as to promote these new dimensions of farming that are geared more towards quality both for food and the environment.
4. Consequently, the Assembly calls on member states and the European Union:
i. to pay particular attention to the food-processing industry in order to prevent excessive concentration in the sector and ensure fair payments for producers, reasonable prices for the consumer and maximum food quality and safety;
ii. to guarantee that the new multifunctional objectives of agriculture are not compromised by international trade agreements and the gradual liberalisation of trade or by the reduction of subsidies to farmers;
iii. to continue to guarantee balanced rural development by adopting integrated measures that take account of the complementary roles of the various sectors concerned;
iv. to guarantee the maximum possible degree of food safety through appropriate national and European supervisory bodies, by applying the precautionary principle and establishing permanent health monitoring systems and food traceability schemes;
v. to promote sustainable farming practices that respect the environment (water, soil, biodiversity, landscapes) and do not endanger the natural resources on which agricultural production is based;
vi. to promote high-quality local production, capitalising on particular locations or specific features related to traditional production methods and expanding the use of recognised quality marks or labels that guarantee the characteristics of the relevant produce;
vii. to promote both the conservation of the natural heritage (landscapes, traditional farm produce and foods, typical fauna and flora) and the protection of the cultural heritage (traditions, built heritage, folk customs);
viii. to ensure that essential infrastructure and public services (transport, education, health, etc.) are maintained in rural areas in order to guarantee rural populations non-discriminatory living conditions and access to public services, compared to urban populations;
ix. to develop varied activities particularly in the tourism and leisure sector in rural areas as part of a comprehensive rural development policy, differentiated and complementary to the agricultural policy;
x. to make provision for paying farmers for non-agricultural activities related to the new environmental and health requirements of the agricultural policy or for other services they provide (landscape management, forestry, biodiversity, etc), thereby offsetting the losses in income caused by reductions in farm subsidies, by adopting relevant legislation recognising the usefulness of these activities;
xi. to ensure that the agricultural and rural development policies of European Union candidate countries take account of their characteristics (large farming sectors and rural populations) by promoting diversified rural development and multifunctional and sustainable farming, so as to prevent any shortcomings caused by inappropriate measures in current European agricultural policies;
xii. to defend the European agricultural model and the new role of agriculture in multilateral trade negotiations, in particular in the context of the World Trade Organisation.
II. Explanatory memorandum by Mr Floros
Contents
1. Introduction 4
2. Issues involved in sustainable agriculture and living rural areas 4
3. Facts 5
4. Challenges for a new agricultural policy 7
4.1 Responses to social expectations from agriculture 7
4.2 Meeting public expectations vis-à-vis the countryside 8
4.3 Meeting farmers’ expectations 9
4.4 Integration into the international framework 10
5. Conclusions 11
5.1 Pointers to a new agricultural policy 11
5.2 Pointers to a new rural policy 12
1. Introduction
1. The successive reforms of agricultural policies over the final decade of last century highlighted the intimate links between the farming sector and rural development. This interpenetration was confirmed as a basic principle on the adoption of Agenda 2000: sustainable agriculture is impossible without a living countryside, and conversely no rural area can be developed harmoniously without agriculture. This close interrelation, with agriculture as a necessary, albeit insufficient condition for sustainable development of rural areas, means that any discussion of the challenges facing a new agricultural policy must necessarily include wider consideration of the countryside and rural policies.
2. With a view to the proper analysis of the challenges of defining a new agricultural policy, this report will first of all look at the issues at stake and then take stock of the current situation, from the angle of this relationship between agriculture and sustainable rural development.
2. Issues involved in sustainable agriculture and living rural areas
3. Right from the very first attempts to construct the European Union, the issues at stake in agriculture and its environment prompted political leaders to implement a specific agricultural policy, making this economic sector one of the foundations of the European venture. The main prerequisites for the sustainability of agriculture may be summarised as follows:
- ensuring availability of sufficient quantities of food at reasonable prices, which was one of the original reasons for launching the CAP;
- ensuring the availability of high-quality foodstuffs, particularly in public health terms;
- maintaining wide product diversity, reflecting the geographical wealth of Europe;
- preserving the diversity of heritage landscapes;
- maintaining a high-quality natural environment, particularly in terms of biodiversity and spatial planning;
- promoting economic exchanges, which create employment and the wealth necessary for the vitality of the countryside.
4. Above and beyond these strictly agricultural issues, the close living interrelations between agriculture and rural development force us also to consider the factors that make rural areas a dynamic, welcoming environment for Europe and its populations. In this context we should remember that the European countryside consists of:
- inhabited areas covering 80% of land in Europe and housing almost 25% of the European population;
- areas for services, activities and employment, notably in the crafts, industrial, tourist and leisure sectors. These areas thus deal with the production, supply and marketing not only of foodstuffs but also of other articles required by the European population;
- areas comprising a great deal of the natural, cultural and historic heritage of Europe;
- reserves of natural resources (water, air, renewable energies, etc), of biodiversity in fauna and flora and of space for future new activities;
- prime areas for expressing regional diversity.
5. The relative importance of the various components of these issues depend on the state of development and the status of the citizens’ national or local concerns, but the sum total of all the issues make agriculture and the countryside vital factors for the future of Europe.
6. So agriculture is a central element in rural development. By the same token, the countryside, with its fundamental agricultural dimension, is the very basis of the European identity and therefore a relevant issue for the whole of society. It is a sine qua non for the harmonious and sustainable development of Europe.
3. Facts
7. Agriculture has been shaken by a number of recent events, the effects of which are still being felt. These incidents have shown the general public just how complex, but also how vulnerable, farming is. However, above and beyond such crises, we might pinpoint the current overall trends in agriculture and highlight a large number of facts, which we shall group together below for ease of understanding.
Agricultural production
8. European agriculture remains an important economic sector for European and world trade. It is achieving soaring levels of productivity, although output varies across the European continent. The farming sector is subject to constant technical change and is today having to cope with lightning scientific progress in the biological field. Genetic manipulation is raising ethical questions which go far beyond the framework of agricultural production.
9. The food processing industry, of which agricultural production forms a part, has been the subject of a number of concentrations which have lent considerable, indeed excessive weight to a small number of large economic concerns in the choice of policies to be implemented or the technological advances made. Decision-making has shifted upstream and downstream of the actual farms. These processes of industrialising and concentrating the food processing sector, from the input manufacture to the product distribution stage, have exacerbated the exposure of the whole production chain to possible shortcomings in any given link in this chain. This vulnerability requires increased scrutiny of the quality of all the components of the food producing sector.
10. The market in so-called “local” products and organic farming is regaining ground alongside such mass production, which in fact also provides this new market with its main ready-made selling points.
The citizen and agriculture
11. The recent crises (BSE, dioxine, foot-and-mouth disease) have further damaged agriculture’s social image, which had already suffered under increasing public awareness of environmental pollution. This crisis of confidence has crystallised around a number of factors, whose importance has been further heightened by shifting public expectations;
- product quality from the health point of view;
- standardisation and loss of product identity;
- intensive stockbreeding methods and animal welfare;
- use of cropping methods deleterious to the environment and biodiversity (intensification and excessive use of inputs, etc).
12. Even though part of the reason for this crisis of confidence lies outside the farming domain, namely in new developments in the food-processing industry (oligopolistic market in inputs, product standardisation, concentrations in distribution systems, etc), the public perceive an increasing discrepancy between “agricultural supply” and their own expectations. Moreover, few people these days realise what it actually means to run a farm: this is particularly true of urban populations, who have less and less physical contact with the agricultural world. Such remoteness applies not only to farmers’ actual production but also to their secondary agricultural functions and their role in conserving nature, managing landscapes, etc.
13. The citizens’ unawareness has a negative effect on their assessment of the relevance of the volume of European funds earmarked for agriculture, and also often obscures the fact that the CAP is the only genuinely integrated European policy in budgetary terms.
Farmers and farming
14. In recent decades, in tandem with the crisis of confidence among consumers, farmers have been facing major change in the very nature of their occupation.
15. For centuries agriculture was the occupation par excellence where those involved could take their own decisions and organise their work as they pleased. Now, however, farmers are losing much of this control de facto, as their increasing dependence on the other operators and decision-makers in the food-processing industry is fencing them in with more and more restrictions. The concentration phenomena combined with the economic power of the other operators along the production line have reduced farmers’ scope for individual action.
16. The problem of aging among farm managers and difficulties with finding new and younger recruits illustrate different aspects of the changing face of farming, and are compounding the financial difficulties encountered by a growing proportion of the sector.
17. Lastly, at the local level farmers have seen their leadership role in the village diminish with the drop in numbers of agricultural workers. This loss of a local social role is further accentuated by a weakening of the links formerly maintained by the old production and marketing methods between the farmers and the rest of the rural population.
International trade aspects
18. International agreements are exerting an increasing influence on farming methods and practice. In the European Union, which is the world’s largest importer of agricultural products, the successive rounds of talks have resulted in recurrent changes to CAP regulations, increasingly liberalising the trading arrangements. Direct grants to EU farms currently exceed the sums earmarked for the traditional CAP mechanisms (export refunds, interventions, storage, etc). Some 70% of non-EEC exports are effected without export refunds.
19. All the EU’s agricultural policies invariably come up against a dilemma: is it realistic, or even possible, to produce under competitive conditions on the world markets while at the same time meeting all of society’s demand vis-à-vis such production (product quality and safety, protection of natural resources, livestock welfare, etc)? International trade agreements, which are drawn up under negotiations prioritising the economic aspects and largely overlooking public environmental and social concerns (“non-trade concerns”), put farmers in a difficult position in that, being subject to the economic agreements, they are in the front line as regards responding to public expectations.
Agriculture and rural development
20. Many European countries, especially those concerned by the future enlargement of the European Union, still have large rural populations. So the enlargement issue is set to restore the status of agriculture and the countryside as key factors in Europe’s future success.
21. In connection with the relative importance which the EU currently attaches to agriculture and rural development, the latter is very obviously regarded as a mere sub-section of the CAP, seen primarily through the filter of the multipurpose dimension of farming. Analysis of the various measures proposed under rural development programmes shows that they largely exclude many fields of activity and operators working in the countryside from their scope. Consequently, the present-day rural development policy is still essentially based on the multipurpose conception of agriculture. Although this policy does have some positive impact, it is structurally insufficient to attain the aim of global rural development, which is to unite all the operators and sectors of activity in a given area by providing them with a modern level of services and infrastructures, particularly in the field of information and communication technologies.
4. Challenges for a new agricultural policy
22. The challenges to be taken up in any new agricultural policy in Europe are commensurate with the issues pinpointed above. They should be identified in terms not only of prospective developments in the agricultural sector but also of changes in the social framework, where new types of public aspirations and expectations are being voiced, whether in rural or urban areas. Lastly, in view of the growing impact of globalisation, this section will also deal with the challenges arising from increasing internationalisation. The quality of the response to these challenges will be a determining factor in securing political and public acceptance of the special role played by farmers in society.
4.1 Responses to social expectations from agriculture
Quality and diversity of food products
23. Still reeling from the recent crises in the food sector, consumers have not only expressed new types of expectations but also, and above all, set out clear demands, which have been taken up by the media and politicians. Their shopping habits have also reflected this concern, even though these changes tend to be fairly short-lived once the media hype is over. One of the challenges to be taken up by the whole food-processing sector, and therefore by agriculturalists, is to ensure a high standard of food quality and provide sufficient relevant information. This necessitates statutory, technical and legal instruments to control and guarantee the quality and traceability of foodstuffs, ensuring that responsibility for food safety is shared among all operators in the production chain, from the input supplier to the final consumer.
24. In their quest for prestige products capable of raising their living standards, farmers should welcome the new consumer demand for a diversified range of products on the market. To maintain a wide variety of products, possibly associating them with a strong local image, is not only a challenge but also a promising way forward for the future.
25. One pointer to future development might be a system of labels to designate the geographical origin and mode of production (organic farming, etc) of foodstuffs, but in fact the challenge needs to be taken up by the whole agricultural industry: good farming practice should satisfy this need for quality and diversity and create a novel situation in terms of food production, about which the public should be kept fully informed.
Sustainability
26. Ten years on from Rio the concept of sustainable development has matured to impregnate not only the policies but also general public expectations, although the concept of sustainability still remains somewhat vague. Citizens today are expecting agriculture not to jeopardise the future of farmland or of nature in general. One of the sources of this new awareness is concern about water pollution, which is easy to gauge and highly symbolic. Other yardsticks for measuring the impact of farming on the environment (erosion, soil pollution, changes in biodiversity, etc) are less obvious to the general public and more difficult to quantify. Nevertheless, the demand for environment-friendly farming practices is one which the public expect to be properly met, even if the demand is still rather unfocused. On the scientific front, however, the challenge is very real: reliable agri-environmental indicators will be introduced in the near future in order to improve our capacity to monitor the impact of agriculture on the natural environment and to advise on farming methods.
Ethics and livestock
27. The demands from some quarters in Europe regarding animal welfare, which have recently attracted media coverage and prompted controversy over a number of extreme situations, is an additional challenge to stockbreeders and livestock operators. This issue, which was originally highlighted by a number of animal welfare agencies, has yet to be brought fully into focus, but it will indubitably lead to stricter regulations imposing greater constraints on farmers.
4.2 Meeting public expectations vis-à-vis the countryside
28. The interdependence of agriculture and rural development is also confronting farmers with the challenge of meeting social expectations vis-à-vis the countryside, whether people idealise it or not. Farmers are not alone in having to cope with these expectations, but they have an active role to play alongside and in co-operation with the other rural operators.
A welcoming, active countryside
29. The countryside is a very positive item in the European unconscious, particularly among city-dwellers, because it conveys the image of a world somehow unaffected by time, where nature, with its flora and fauna, serves as a backdrop for traditional lifestyles based on solidarity and peaceable co-existence. This idealised image obviously interferes with citizens’ expectations vis-à-vis rural areas, which they want to be not only welcoming and active but also compatible with their conception of nature. The heavy demand for so-called “local products” is part of this phenomenon. By meeting a sometimes implicit but invariably real public demand for renewed contact with nature, farmers can help organise rural activities and thereby secure additional income. However, they can also use this demand as an opportunity to prepare the ground for a fresh public appraisal of agriculture. There are many other forms of activity which farmers could organise apart from farm holidays, for example introducing visitors to nature and the countryside.
A diversified countryside
30. The increasing role of the media in our society and the technologies ensuring their expansion and power have had the effect of standardising the cultures of the different European countries. This trend is very difficult to control, never mind reverse, because those who are responsible for this cultural erosion are increasingly beyond any kind of control.
31. Landscape diversity, which is a fundamental aspect of the European reality, must be protected. It is a cultural and economic value in which the European Community is increasingly investing, and it is therefore important that agriculture should be able to meet expectations in this field.
32. Efforts to prevent the eradication of special regional features and standardisation of cultural landscapes are particularly necessary because many new rural development projects are giving pride of place to a high-quality living environment. Within this planning approach oriented towards local specificities, farmers, who have a front-line role to play in the living landscape, can and must renew their status as a prime operator in the development of their local areas.
A natural and cultural heritage to be enhanced
33. After a long period of neglect as compared with other more prestigious heritage items, the rural habitat and the vernacular heritage are currently attracting a great deal of attention. Part of this heritage directly concerns the agricultural field, eg farms, many of which are archetypes of buildings suited to local conditions. However, concurrently with this interest in the buildings themselves, there is also increasing concern with harmonious integration of new constructions into existing architectural sites or complexes, which may in the future bring new pressures to bear on farms wishing to expand or renovate their installations.
34. A broad citizens’ movement has also emerged aimed at protecting natural areas of special importance for fauna or flora. Given that farmers manage or own large tracts of this natural heritage, they must take on a role which sometimes conflicts with their own profit-making aims. Nevertheless, they are now being requested, indeed required, to incorporate new farming restrictions into their approach to managing their land with a view to ensuring environmental protection.
4.3 Meeting farmers’ expectations
35. We might summarise the farmer’s main expectations as follows: satisfactory quality of life and working conditions, combined with appropriate remuneration. However, it would be worth taking a closer look at these various aspects.
Quality of life
36. Quality of life for a farmer is largely determined by the socio-cultural environment in which he/she farms. Therefore, availability of services is a basic component of this quality, including both public (schools, administrative branches, medical care, etc) and private services (crafts, shops, cultural sites, etc). Even though these various aspects have little or nothing to do with agricultural policy, they are decisive criteria for the quality of life of anyone living in the country.
37. Quality of life also embraces the natural environment, which is also the farmer’s working environment. Sustainable use of natural resources is therefore important to farmers in two respects: it has a medium-term influence on both the economic outlook for their farming activities and their quality of life.
Working conditions
38. Agricultural occupations have undergone radical change in recent decades. Farmers have had to develop increasing numbers of new skills with the growing complexity of farming methods. These changes usually necessitate technological or entrepreneurial innovation, thus forcing farmers to update their skills on a regular basis. The increasingly complex regulations are more and more time-consuming and demanding in terms of specialist knowledge. Further training, or at least updated information, has become a necessary complement to farm management. The ability to monitor a constantly changing technical and statutory environment is a permanent challenge to all farmers, especially since the regulations are now not only a binding framework but also, very often, the main criteria governing the choice of farming methods. Knowledge of these regulations and their limits have thus become key factors for success.
39. A further occupational asset capable of attracting new recruits is the right to independent management and decision-making, which enables farmers to choose their own specific method of running their farms. This requires flexible training methods suited to the individual case.
Level of income
40. Farmers’ earnings are obviously of cardinal importance because on such income depends the very survival of the activity. The various reforms of the EU Common Agricultural Policy have been aimed at preserving decent levels of income for farmers, but have also involved discussion of the criteria for obtaining financial support. Under the pressure of liberalisation and global markets, the prices of the main agricultural products have been in steady decline, so much so that some production lines are beginning to look non-cost-effective. Direct grants have gone some way towards offsetting these losses of earnings.
41. However, CAP debates are mainly financial in character, concentrating on apportioning the sums available under the policy among the various farming sectors and their operators. Accordingly, social expectations (landscape, biological diversity, etc) have tended to be seen as excuses for technical and financial intervention rather than as the genuine forces for change they could become. This tends to treat farmers more as agricultural “spatial gardeners”, providing services for local authorities and populations from a regional planning angle. This means that the proportion of income deriving from specific modes of production (extensification, fallow land, etc) no longer counts as additional assistance provided under an environmental policy: it is now regarded as remuneration for services provided for the population under coherent development programmes.
42. Farmer pluriactivity is still common in many European countries, aimed at ensuring a decent level of income. Statutory frameworks such as that introduced by the European Union are something of an obstacle to such pluriactivity. Loss of earnings after cessation of farming activities can trigger drifts from the countryside to the towns and cities. Such phenomena should be carefully considered, because the survival of a sizeable population in the rural areas can curb urban saturation in terms of employment or housing.
Social recognition
43. It is obvious that highlighting the multipurpose dimension of agriculture leads to increased social recognition of the farmer’s work. As managers of the rural environment, farmers are at the heart of development dynamics. In order to reinforce their privileged position within the social fabric, efforts are needed to correct the negative factors that are currently marring the image of the farmer in society. Alongside the necessary practical and statutory action, attention must also be paid to communication and information. Improving society’s perception of agriculture is both a specific objective and a means of defending the position of agriculture at the international level.
4.4 Integration into the international framework
Enlargement of the European Union
44. The enlargement of the European Union to a total of 25 countries is a global challenge in which all sectors of the economy must play their part. The profile of most of the applicant countries is such that farming will certainly be one of the sectors whose success will determine that of the enlargement itself. Cost control is obviously one of the States’ priorities, but however difficult the transition phase may be it must not be allowed to overshadow the need to steer the Common Agricultural Policy towards longer-term sustainability objectives.
45. The enlargement will breathe new life into the European countryside by bringing it to the front of the political stage and restoring its status as an interlocutor and actor in the European regional cohesion strategy. Narrowing development gaps among and within the regions can only be envisaged if we involve in the discussions and strategies those rural areas which will become more important after enlargement than they have been hitherto in the 15-member European Union.
46. If these applicant countries, with their strong rural components, managed to maintain their rural populations, they could possibly avert some of the dysfunctions caused by agricultural policy in the 1980s. The agricultural restructuring which is currently in hand in the applicant countries will lead to job losses which cannot be absorbed by increasing the volume of production or boosting non-food-producing agricultural activities. The multipurpose dimension of agriculture will be powerless to prevent the foreseeable rural depopulation. Therefore, a proactive policy is needed for rural areas to ensure that, alongside the prospective changes in the agricultural sector, other economic activities can be maintained, developed or created with the support of an active rural development policy.
Global trade agreements
47. There are huge economic stakes in agriculture, particularly in the United States. The public are still largely unaware of the influence of global trade agreements on the formulation of European policies, especially in the agricultural field. Some of the mechanisms operating in this field, particularly export subsidies, which play a major role in certain production sectors, are subject to heavy pressure and are set to decrease yet further, or even to disappear completely. This development necessitates further cuts in production costs in the sectors affected, which should in general mean additional pressure on the environment, contrary to the wishes of society.
48. The influence of international trade agreements is especially strong because the close links between farming and the countryside transmit this influence to the whole of rural life, despite the fact that non-agricultural activities and functions in the countryside are virtually ignored in all trade negotiations.
49. This exclusion of rural considerations from the international negotiations leads to persistent imbalance in rural areas, in both Europe and the developing countries. Integral promotion of the whole European countryside must be prioritised by European Union negotiators otherwise, the agreements will preclude the economic dimension of agriculture and agricultural operators will continue to make choices incompatible with the role they are expected to play in territorial development strategies. This makes the agricultural model based on multipurpose farming and responding to the expectations of society difficult to reconcile with growing market liberalisation. The expectations of politicians and the general public centre increasingly on these spatial and environmental functions. Defending this model requires trade negotiators to stop considering agriculture as a simple economic sector and give more weight to this societal role, drawing the requisite conclusions in terms of trade and trade agreements.
5. Conclusions
50. A new agricultural policy must be primarily aimed at striking a lasting balance between the economic, social and environmental pillars of agriculture. The relative weightings of these pillars, which are closely linked to the importance attached and priorities assigned to them by society, have undergone rapid change over the last few years. Today’s challenges have more to do with revolution than evolution, which explains the increasing tension surrounding agricultural policies and international trade.
51. The social position and status of European agriculture can no longer be confined to the food production function (“the economic pillar”) alone. The multipurpose approach to farming reflects this opening-up to the other two pillars.
52. However, society’s expectations of the countryside go far beyond the boundaries of purely agricultural functions to take in the fields of organised activities, accommodation, economic activities and services in the countryside. A fully-fledged rural policy conceived as a genuine territorial policy is now a vital complement to any multipurpose agricultural policy.
53. This is why the ensuing proposals comprise pointers to two different but complementary policies: an agricultural policy and a rural policy.
5.1 Pointers to a new agricultural policy
54. Looking at the actual facts, as well as the challenges facing agriculture, there is a persistent contradiction between, on the one hand, efforts to secure a good economic rate of return through almost total liberalisation and opening up of markets, and on the other, the endeavour to meet society’s expectations, which comprise factors that limit productivity in terms of the environment, ethical treatment of animals, spatial management, etc.
55. Although this contradiction is not negative in that it also proves the existence of unmet social demands and therefore of a potential market (though the content of such demands would be difficult to contractualise), it is still a very basic problem which is particularly sensitive for underprivileged rural areas unable to compete economically with other areas with more favourable geo-climatic conditions or lower societal pressure in different parts of the world.
56. Furthermore, even if the facts show the need for a fairly radical reform, we cannot disregard the need to continue nevertheless with an approach to agriculture which necessarily involves consideration for budgetary, cultural and human aspects.
Food products
57. Most of the main agricultural sectors in the European Union are guided by common market organisations (CMOs), which deal with price levels, volumes and subsidies. The debates in the CMO framework have mainly concerned financial aspects, but above and beyond straightforward market and price regulation, these bodies also have major local and regional impact, for instance in terms of landscapes and wildlife. So the abolition of area-linked production quotas would lead to production relocations which would have a considerable impact, particularly on the landscape. It would therefore be advisable to retain and improve those current direct subsidies which are demonstrably compatible with the aim of a balanced, sustainable agricultural mode complying with societal expectations.
Recognising and remunerating multipurpose agriculture
58. The future of European agriculture lies in a multipurpose vision of agriculture, ie a method of farming that comprises a variety of functions linked to or deriving from the main agricultural activities. In addition to the above-mentioned food production function, the other functions to be fulfilled by farmers must be better recognised and remunerated at a level corresponding to the issues at stake and the expectations met. This should be accompanied by a determined public information and awareness campaign, as citizens generally are increasingly in the dark about agricultural activities. A proper perception of the issues involved in the various agricultural functions will be a decisive factor in developing policies and deciding on appropriate remuneration for services provided.
International trade
59. The basic principle of international trade must be to maintain the individual society’s capacity to protect itself against articles whose mode of production is not accepted in its country or which do not comply with given standards established in response to the concerns or wishes of the population or its representatives. This independence principle obviously also covers the precautionary principle, but it also guarantees respect for different lifestyles and cultural approaches.
60. When implementing this principle certain conditions must be guaranteed to ensure fair competition, particularly in connection with societal and environmental restrictions on production.
Societal remuneration or compensation
61. The situation and evolution of international agreements and the prospects emerging for the various agricultural functions militate for redistributing financial grants to farmers, which are currently referred to as direct aids but which in fact have more to do with the concept of societal remuneration or compensation.
62. A two-tier system might be implemented, with:
- one level of remuneration granted to farmers using production methods and techniques complying with European standards of environmental protection, stock management, food safety, etc, more stringent than the practices permitted or practised outside the European market. Such financial compensation would offset the competitive deficit occasioned by this stricter statutory framework bound up with ecological, ethical and environmental expectations.
- a second level of remuneration granted to farmers whose production methods, above and beyond good professional practice, comply with other restrictive conditions, adopting a specific spatial planning rationale (landscape, biodiversity, areas of special interest, exceptional instances of extensification, etc). This second level would compensate for practical measures taken to fit in with a local development strategy, which remains to be devised and should cover non-agricultural considerations.
5.2 Pointers to a new rural policy
63. Territorial cohesion, which is a major issue for an enlarged Europe, involves motivating all rural operators to take part in development projects. Alongside the agricultural policy, implementing a specific European rural policy distinct from but complementary to the agricultural policy is vital for balanced European construction.
64. Such a rural policy is needed to ensure sustainable, diversified and balanced development of rural areas, which multipurpose farming cannot guarantee on its own. The standard of living expected by rural populations, including farmers, involves adopting an approach to the rural environment which goes far beyond exclusive agricultural concerns.
65. This rural policy might be based on the experimentation conducted under the successive Leader Programmes, whose very persistence bears witness to the importance of a specific rural policy. If the requisite resources and facilities were made available, this policy would add a genuinely multi-sectoral dimension to the development of rural areas, permitting European agriculture to do full justice to its multipurpose dimension and making the countryside once again an acknowledged partner in European construction.
Reporting committee: Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs
References to committee: Doc. 9035, Reference No. 2602 of 27 April 2001and Doc. 8581, Reference No. 2463 of 4 November 1999.
Draft resolution adopted unanimously by the committee on 25 November 2002
Members of the committee: Mr Martinez Casañ (Chairman), MM. Behrendt, Hornung, Stankevic (Vice-Chairmen), Mr Agius, Mrs Agudo, MM. Akçali, Akselsen, Mrs Angelovicova, MM. Annemans, Blaauw, Sir Sydney Chapman, MM. Churkin (Alternate: Sudarenkov), Ciemniak, Cosarciuc, Delattre, Dokle, Ekes, von der Esch, Etherington, Frunda (Alternate: Kelemen), Giovanelli, Gonzalez de Txabarri (Alternate: de Puig), Graas, Grachev, Grissemann, Gubert, Hajiyeva, Haraldsson, Hladiy (Alternate: Kyrylenko), Ilascu, Janowski, Juric, Kalkan, Mrs Kanelli, Mr Kharitonov, Lord Kilclooney, MM. Klympush, Lachat, Lobkowicz, Loncle (Alternate: Lengagne), Lozancic, Libicki, van der Linden, Manukyan, Masseret, Mauro, Meale, Mesquita, Meyer (Alternate: Goulet), Müller, Nazaré Pereira, Oliverio, Podobnik, Pollozhani, Popov (Alternate: Bakulin), Rafaj, Salaridze, Mrs Schicker, MM. Schmied, Skoularikis (Alternate: Floros), Ms Stoejberg, Mr Stoica (Alternate: Coifan), Ms Stoyanova, MM. Tabajdi, Theodorou, Timmermans, Tiuri, Truu, Vakilov, Velikov, Volpinari, Wright, Yürür, Mrs Zetterberg, MM Zhevago, Zierer.
N.B. The names of those members present at the meeting are printed in italics.
Secretariat to the committee: Mrs Cagnolati, Mr Sixto and Ms Odrats.