It may be logical that after more than two and a half years that the political negotiation to close the agreement on the CAP has taken, also as a result of a late and eternal Brexit, and of the subsequent delay due to the pandemic until the adoption of the new ones validated regulations, few politicians are willing to back down on its implementation. Even if it is to make the work worthwhile.
However, there are already too many voices calling for a postponement – even of the great environmental goals – due to the serious consequences of a war that no one imagined and the uncertainties it is generating in the deployment of application programs, especially now, in a scenario of seed costs. high, when not scarcity, of fertilizers, diesel, gas or electricity.
After the general assembly of Asaja Albacete, Antonio, producer from Bogarra, confessed to me his intention to hasten his sowing until the end of the year to verify the maximum flexibility that the Ministry of Agriculture will approve regarding the requirements of l more classic and apparently easy eco-regime as is crop rotation. Because if, as has been announced, the fallow is extended to 40 percent of the farm, he says there is no money to lose. I’d give up on the old “green help”. Why would you really lose per hectare? He answers with another question: how much have I saved due to drought, climate and the price of legumes which, because they must be certified to comply with reserves and new regulations, have brought their price to impossible levels? This condition, among other things, which has emerged in recent days in the talks of the municipalities, we will see if it also falls within the exceptions to stem obvious speculations, beyond the fact that it is true that there is a lack of vetches and other protein crops that could serve to respect the percentage mandatory of these surfaces.
This same week, Spanish MEPs from Parliament’s Agriculture Committee questioned and criticized the closure of the Commission for maintaining targets such as a 20 percent reduction in chemical fertilizers in agriculture or the worrying need to reduce by 50 percent here. until 2030, the use of pesticides and other plant protection products if at the same time we have to increase the productivity of our field in the face of the food emergency.
Furthermore, several European countries still do not have their strategic plans approved by the EU, despite Spain having had the green light since September. A fact that reflects to a certain extent the lack of haste in entering the new system, – who knows whether due to the complexity of the proposals – or the sense of blocking of the Community executive itself to validate them if the reform is to spread to next year, in two months.
Because if we do accounts, there are already almost three extension campaigns; In other words, the new CAP will only be valid for four more, until 2027. And this without taking into account the medical examinations or mid-term reviews that the next politicians will propose that will emerge from the new European Parliament elections, when they begin to suggest the next one. template.
If we have come this far for all the circumstances described, extending the old agricultural policy without major jolts, why force the machine when all administrations are looking for crevices on the margins of some royal decrees (pending BOE) so that not the producer abandons or does it like Antonio?
The Ministry of Agriculture claims that with the new system, the region will receive fifty million euros more per year. It is true that with the expected convergence, the lower payments will be balanced until the end of the new period, although much later other decisive aspirations for greater justice, such as the abolition of historical rights, will be negotiated. It is also true that young people go up one point in their basic allowance, women will have 15 percent more value in their collection rights, livestock says it is strengthened, modulation and redistributive payment are incorporated. However, given the emergency, at least some environmental ambitions could not wait?
