Three own-initiative MEP papers were adopted at a mini plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels on 5 – 6 May. The reports, on agriculture in Less Favoured Areas (LFAs), the Animal Welfare Action Plan and EU agriculture and climate change were drafted by MEPs Herbert Dorfmann, Marit Paulsen and Stéphane Le Foll, respectively.

Work begun last week on reworking the US Farm Bill which, like its European counterpart the CAP, is likely to face budget cuts in the coming period in order to address the current budget deficit.

A public debate has been launched on the future of the CAP to engage stakeholders and wider civil society in discussions on what the objectives for the CAP after 2013 should be.

A new report released by the FAO, entitled Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Dairy Sector calculates the contribution of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions associated with the dairy food chain.

At an expert hearing held by the Agricultural Committee of the European Parliament on 17 March, Liberal Democrat MEP George Lyon emphasised that a future CAP should ensure sustainable production, environmental protection and a fair income for farmers.

In a recent debate about a future CAP, members of the EU Parliament’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee discussed the need to integrate environmental policies into the CAP in light of population and climate changes.

At the first Agriculture Council of the Spanish Presidency new Council President Spanish Minister Elena Espinosa outlined the Presidency priorities for agriculture over the next six months.

A UK Government report analysing the price spikes for agricultural commodities in 2007/08, concludes that these were exacerbated by poorly performing markets. Authors argue for a further opening up of the international agricultural market and specifically, for the EU to “phase out agricultural subsidies such as Pillar 1 of the CAP" over market intervention protecting consumers.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has released two new papers entitled “Review of evidence on drylands pastoral systems and climate change: Implications and opportunities for mitigation and adaptation,” and “Organic Agriculture and Carbon Sequestration: Possibilities and constraints for the consideration of organic agriculture within carbon accounting systems.”

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.