A new report by Ecologic outlines the positions and relative influence of the main German policy actors and stakeholders in the CAP reform debate, as well as discussing the government's likely position in future discussions.

In a new working paper, Valentin Zahrnt considers criteria which could be used to distribute CAP payments targeted at the provision of public goods. The paper then examines who the winners and losers might be at Member State level under different post-2013 scenarios.

BirdLife International and the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), have launched a new study which reviews the potential effects on biodiversity of the 2007-2013 Rural Development Programmes across the European Union. The study underlines the need for fundamental agriculture policy reform for the post 2013 period.

The environmentalists are spearheading the movement for CAP reform. But who else could be able and willing to throw in significant political weight?

Gwyn Jones of the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism (EFNCP) analyses the state of play with the Commission's work on redefining the criteria used to target the 'Intermediate Less Favoured Area (LFA)' measure at the European level.

Vicki Hird argues that the CAP is not a modern, environmentally and socially just, and efficient form of policy. She argues that a new agricultural policy is needed and presents a case for this to be built on a revised form of supply management, demand management and targeted support.

An objective of the CAP is to ensure that farming can continue in all regions of the EU. This is used as a major justification for providing subsidies to EU farmers. In this article, I examine whether this objective is shared by some of those in Finland.

On November 24-26, 2008, the German Marshall Fund co-sponsored a conference with Wilton Park entitled ’Feeding The World: Are New Global Agricultural Policies Needed?’ The conference report has just been published.

The decoupling of subsidies from production levels – a key feature of the reformed CAP – falls under constant criticism in Finland.

In this article, Valentin Zahrnt argues that environmentalists should take an uncompromising, principled position and resist the urge to find common ground with moderate vested interests in order to achieve fundamental reform of the CAP.

On Monday 30th March , the GB government advisors on the countryside and environment joined forces under the banner of the Land Use Policy Group (LUPG) to launch their Vision for the Future of the CAP post 2013.

A new report by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise presents a summary of a series of interviews conducted with prominent European business managers and leaders. Many of the managers interviewed were clear in their opinion that CAP is costly, damaging and wasteful.

A competition for innovative and promising public policy options to address challenges facing agriculture and the food system has been organised by Farm Foundation, a nonprofit organisation based in the United States.

On 30 March in the Spanish Ministry for Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs in Madrid, WWF Spain and SEO/BirdLife (Birdlife International´s partner in Spain) will launch their shared vision for the CAP beyond 2013.

The RSPB and the BirdLife EU Secretariat are conducting an evaluation of the 2007-2013 Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) across the European Union, to assess their potential for biodiversity. It appears that only a few crumbs of rural development funds are likely to deliver for nature conservation.