The UK government produced its first Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) earlier this year. It looks at 100 priority impacts of climate change across 11 sectors in the UK including the agriculture and forestry sectors. The assessment categorises these sectors within five themes showing where the impacts will be most severe and how policy can intervene. Climate change is likely to have considerable impacts on food security, population growth and rising demand for energy. The purpose of the CCRA is to analyse the potential impacts in this wider context in order to facilitate risk management in the respective sectors.

The European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism (EFNCP) have issued a document presenting the fears and proposals of 80 farming and environmental organisations concerning the current CAP rules for permanent pastures, and those being considered for 2014-2020 period. It sets out clear and simple proposals for changing these rules for the benefit of farmers and the environment.

On Tuesday 6 March stakeholders involved in the CAP reform debate, researchers, representatives from the Commission, European Parliament, Member States, NGOs and farmer organisations, came together to engage in a constructive debate on how to get the most for the environment out of the Ecological Focus Area (EFA) measure under the CAP proposals for the greening of direct payments. The event, held in Brussels, was hosted by Scottish Natural Heritage on behalf of the UK statutory conservation, countryside and environment agencies and organised by IEEP.

Compared to the two years of active debates and discussions which preceded the publication of the legislative proposals for CAP reform post 2014, we seem now to be in a quieter period of reflection. This is partly caused by the suggestion that the real negotiations cannot progress in detail until there is greater clarity about the budget the CAP has to work with. In turn this is dependent on political decision on the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework, and no one expects progress on that until well after the French Presidential elections (second round on 6 May) and maybe not settled until spring 2013.

French and German Agriculture Ministers, Bruno Le Maire and Ilse Aigner, met on 6 February at the 14th Franco-German Council of Ministers to discuss the Commission’s proposals for the future CAP. The outcome is a two-page declaration highlighting those areas of the policy reform on which they hold a common view.

The UK government published their response on 2 February 2012 to the findings published by the UK House of Lords Select Committee inquiry into innovation in EU agriculture last July.

At an inter-institutional event on 23 January 2012 in Brussels, the Commission marked the beginning of a year long communication campaign, CAP@50, to celebrate 50 years of CAP in EU agriculture. The CAP@50 campaign aims to bring together all actors in EU agriculture, with past and current stakeholders invited to participate in this ‘partnership between Europe and farmers’. At the inauguration event, Agriculture Commissioner, Dacian Cioloş, noted in particular how the CAP has evolved since 1962 to accommodate new concerns as they have emerged, such as climate change and the sustainable use of natural resources.

The Danish Presidency of the EU began on 1 January 2012 outlining four principal themes for the forthcoming six months: 'A responsible Europe; a dynamic Europe; a green Europe; and a safe Europe’. In terms of the CAP reform discussions, the Danish EU Presidency and the Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Mette Gjerskov, have stressed the need for both a green and market-oriented CAP.

At the Environment Council on 19 December 2011, the EU Environment Ministers decided to omit certain details concerning the third target which outlines the role of European agriculture in meeting the EU 2020 biodiversity targets. This came following strong opposition from several Member States led by the German Environment Minister, Norbert Rӧttgen, who claimed that this drafted text was too closely linked to talks on the future CAP and might falsely pre-empt the ongoing negotiations.

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.