Rural development policy organic farming and short supply

Rural development policy, organic farming and short supply chains: the story so far, 2014 -2020 Mihail Dumitru Deputy Director General DG Agriculture and Rural Development European Commission 4 February 2015, Latvia

1. 1. The context: programme approvals 2. 2. Organic farming 3. 3. Short supply chains and local markets 4. 4. Future simplification of RD policy

18 prgs in carry-over: adoption planned by March

2014 – 2020 EAFRD funding / MS (€ million)* HR 2 026 PL 8 698 2 367 IT 10 444 PT 4 058 CZ 2 306 CY 132 RO 8 128 DK 919 LV 1076 SI 838 DE 9 446 LT 1 613 SK 1 560 EE 823 LU 101 FL 2 380 IE 2 191 HU 3 431 SE 1 764 EL 4 718 MT 97 UK 5 200 ES 8 297 NL 765 FR 11 385 AT 3 938 EU 99 586** BE 648 BG *The envelopes to be in place after 2 nd round of transfers between Pillars, COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) No 1378/2014, amending Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Annexes II and III to Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ** includes EU level technical assistance (239 mil. EUR)

Budgetary Transfers between Pillars (€ million) FR, LV, UK, BE, CZ, DK, DE, EL, NL, RO HR, MT, PL, SK, HU Almost € 3 billion will be transferred from pillar I to pillar II over 6 years (2014 – 2019) 6

Programme Adoption Process Q 1 2015 Q 3/Q 4 2015 February / March Adoption of the 'carry over-group' Q 2 2015 30 April MFF revision and 2015 budget amendment Beginning of May Adoption of delayed programmes 'en bloc' From July adoption of remaining programmes Timing Number of programmes December 2014 9 Carry-over 18 May and June 2015 89 2 nd half of 2015 2 June Programme adoption 'case by case'

Lessons learned Ø Tight deadlines set out in Common Provisions Regulation create need for handling potential difficulties early! Ø Completeness and clarity of programme formulation are essential conditions for a speedy programme assessment Ø Settling open questions requires good cooperation between Commission and Managing Authorities Ø More attention needs to be given to simplification options (e. g. simplified cost options, better focus, no "gold-plating") Ø For the near future: prepare programme modifications well in advance and enter into discussion with the Commission early on, including through Monitoring Committees

Organic farming (Measure 11) Ø Support for organic farming has been established as a separate measure to highlight the importance of organic farming Ø Organic premia are provided for costs incurred and income forgone due to undertaking organic farming practices (conversion and maintenance) Ø Organic farmers get full 1 st-pillar direct payments ("green" by default), but 2 nd-pillar organic payments are reduced when organic requirements are technically similar to "greening" requirements. Ø Beside Priority 2 (enhancing farm viability and competitiveness) organic farming contributes to Priority 4 (preserving, enhancing ecosystems) and 5 (promoting resource efficiency).

Organic farming (Measure 11) Ø All MS but one have programmed the Organic farming measure Ø The total public spending (EAFRD+MS) for the measure is EUR 9. 2 billion EUR (all RDPs) Ø Public spending for the Organic farming measure therefore accounts for 6% of the total projected public spending for RDPs Ø Target indicators: 6. 9 million ha under maintenance and 3, 2 million Ha under conversion in total in all MS Other support of organic farming: knowledge transfer, advisory services, quality schemes, investment, farm and business development, cooperation.

Short Supply Chains (SSCs), local markets Small-scale local infrastructure Processing and marketing (M 4. 2) (M 6. 2) Short supply chains (SSCs) Local markets LEADER approach "Co-operation" (M 16. 4)

Short Supply Chains Co-operation - Sub-measure 16. 4 Wide range of types of cost Ø Preparatory studies, planning, co-ordination etc. Ø "Direct costs of specific projects" Ø Promotion of whole supply chain, local market Definition Short Supply Chain(Art. 11(1), Reg 807/2014) Ø Max. 1 intermediary between farmers and final consumers Programme definition of local markets Ø Maximum radius for processing, consumption OR Ø Justified alternative approach

Short Supply Chains Co-operation - Sub-measure 16. 4 Ø Sub-measure 16. 4 programmed in 22 MS Ø Approximate total public spending for RDPs concerned: about EUR 670 million Ø This is about 0. 5 % of total projected public spending on all measures in all RDPs Ø (N. B. spending through other relevant measures not included!).

Simplification Ø Simplification is a top priority in Commissioner Hogan's work plan Ø A comprehensive simplification "screening" of the whole CAP legislation has been already launched Ø Within this process, the particular features of rural development programming will be considered Ø Different choices by the Member States lead to different levels of complexity in rural development programming Ø DG AGRI will work closely with relevant DGs to screen possible avenues for further simplification of the common set of horizontal rules for ESI Funds

Thank you for your attention 15