A new report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says that 85 percent of the EU’s agricultural budget goes to producers and recommends the EU to shift the budget toward more research and away from production and trade distorting measures. The report, Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2016, examines agricultural policies across the globe, including 34 OECD countries.
It criticizes the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2014-20 for allowing payments toward specific commodity production, which are unevenly used across member states and distort competition. The report notes that 30 percent of payments are conditional on farmers using certain environmentally friendly practices. However, it calls for assessing the efficiency of greening measures “against the ambition to enhance the enforcement of environmental stewardship”.
Other specific recommendations include amending the CAP to support long-term productivity and sustainability in the sector, and the OECD notes that funding toward the research-oriented Horizon 2020 is a step in the right direction. The report says substantial progress has been made toward reducing production support, but that implementation of the 2014-20 CAP reverses this trend.