COPA-COGECA published a declaration entitled ‘Visions for the Future of Agricultural Policy in Europe’ in September 2008.

The French Presidency issued a discussion paper to Member States in preparation for the informal council of EU farm ministers held in Annecy, France, between 21 and 23 September.

BirdLife International was the first NGO to set out its views on the future of the CAP in October 2007.

In December 2005, the UK government published a Vision which continues to underpin the government’s negotiating position.

This report, published in 2006, presents the outcome of a trialogue between the Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF), the Church of Sweden and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC).

A Notre Europe led expert group, which included former Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler, published this paper in May 2008 in which they make a critical assessment of the success of the CAP since the early 1990s, and put forward a range of proposals to enhance its legitimacy in the future.

In this Vision Document published in March 2008, the Wildlife and Countryside Link (a UK umbrella group for a number of conservation focused organisations) propose moving beyond the current two pillar mechanism of the CAP, split between a decoupled farm payment and rural development support, and in its place establish a single European Sustainable Land Management Policy.

RSPB and BirdLife International have collected examples from across Europe to show how agri-environment schemes are successfully delivering biodiversity and environmental objectives. The purpose of this paper is to celebrate environmental successes under the Common Agricultural Policy and demonstrate how competitive food production can be supported alongside environmental targets.

It is widely recognised that agriculture has an important role in the provision of a wide range of public goods in Europe and this forms a core element of the Commission’s current proposals for the future of the CAP post 2013, supported by Commissioners Ciolos (agriculture), Potocnik (environment) and Hedegaard (climate). However, there is still considerable lack of clarity on whether the proposals in their current form will deliver real improvements in practice, particularly for the environment. At the request of the Policy Unit of the European Parliament, this report considers some of the options for redesigning the CAP to deliver improved public goods outcomes, considering the pros and cons of different options financially, politically and in terms of their potential impacts.

A timely discussion paper explaining how a territorial approach can be developed within rural development policy and other aspects of the CAP.

This study identifies the scale of funding needed annually to achieve environmental outcomes through agricultural and forestry management by 2020 from the EU Budget. Based on an assessment of scale and nature of farm and forestry management needed to meet the EU’s environmental priorities, the study identified the costs of addressing these priorities through incentives for largely voluntary agricultural and forestry management in the EU-27. It covers the full range of environmental issues linked to rural land management including the protection and enhancement of biodiversity, water quality and quantity, soil, landscape, forest protection and climate change adaptation and mitigation. It includes case studies, providing context specific cost data for three particular environmental issues – arable farmland birds, HNV farmland and soil conservation in Southern Spain.