In this briefing we examine the concept of public goods and analyse how it is currently being used in the debate. A clarification of the term is given and further insight is provided on how the principle may be applied to the CAP, and the tools required to deliver public goods from agriculture to society are assessed.

A new report has been released by the World Bank on factors influencing the 2006-2008 commodity price boom. The paper, which is co-authored by DG Agri economics chief Tassos Haniotis, highlights higher energy prices as having been the main factor in driving up food prices.

A new report released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on mountain ecosystems in Europe highlights the importance of these areas for biodiversity and lists agricultural intensification and abandonment as key threats.

The conference held in Brussels on 19 and 20 July on the future CAP was hosted by the Agriculture Commissioner and presented the results of the public consultation launched in April, followed by discussions on the challenges facing agriculture, the environment and rural areas and what solutions might be most appropriate to tackle these.

Member States now have the freedom to restrict or ban the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on their territory under new co-existence guidelines as part of a new package of legislative and non-legislative measures adopted by the Commission on 13 July.

Last month, Friends of the Earth Europe organised a conference in the European Parliament on ‘Measuring Europe’s Resource Use: A vital tool in creating a resource efficient EU’. A full write up of the conference is now available.

MEPs voted in favour of George Lyon’s own-initiative report on the future of the CAP at a Plenary session in Strasbourg on 8 July. The report was adopted following an additional last minute amendment broadening the issues that should be defined as public goods to include food security and food safety.

Staged against a backdrop of European milk producer protests, recommendations from the Commission’s High Level Group on Dairy sparked the only major discussion point at the first Agriculture Council under the Belgium Presidency.

A new report launched by BirdLife International finds that current CAP spending intensity is not reflecting any nature conservation priorities nor supporting nature-friendly farms in three key European countries.

While the CAP reform debate is in full swing, the UK countries have been consulting on the structure and content of their future agricultural policies as part of the transition away from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.

30 actions to transform the Commission’s proposals into a genuine transition tool.

Just a few days before EU Agriculture Ministers meet for the informal Council in Vienna and on the basis of the preparatory questions sent by the presidency to the delegations, the authors of this blog post identify the key elements for securing vibrant rural areas in the future CAP.

Those of us with long memories of CAP reforms know that there can be many dramas, dead ends and diversions along the way. Nonetheless, there has been a discernible direction of travel for two decades or more.