How can it guarantee good living conditions to farmers, whilst ensuring best use of public funds? The Agriculture Committee kicked off debate on common agricultural policy reform, due to start next year, with a public hearing of experts on Wednesday.
The common agricultural policy "is part of the solution of new challenges", which has "some of the answers to the questions set out in the EU 2020 strategy", said George Lyon (ALDE, UK), the MEP drafting Parliament's resolution on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Most speakers, (MEPs, farmers' representatives and academics), advocated keeping the policy at EU level, on the grounds that introducing "co-financing" (i.e. combining funding from EU and national budgets) could mean the end of the CAP. The majority also advocated introducing tools to restrain price volatility, stressing agriculture's benefits for society as a whole.

How the future CAP should look

The CAP needs to be made "fairer, greener and more sustainable", said Mr Lyon. The EU must ensure fair living standards for farmers and ensure equal treatment for those in the "new" Member States, which is not the case today. The "CAP is one of the most successful policies but needs to be adjusted", said Luis Capoulas Santos (S&D, PT), adding that "we should reject any form of re-nationalisation" of agricultural policy, including co-financing.

Farmers, and producers generally, should also have more market power in the food chain. Market volatility is critical, and a tool is needed to manage potential crises, said Mr Lyon, citing the milk price crisis.

"A greener CAP? Yes!" said Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, DE), adding that the "CAP does not succeed in guaranteeing fair incomes to farmers" and that future agricultural policy should therefore improve their market position to try to solve the problem.

Give farmers stability

"Farmers should be allowed to adapt" to new technologies and new production models, said Richard Ashworth (ECR, UK), agreeing that introducing co-financing could mean the end of the CAP.

The EU needs to give farmers the stability they need to plan ahead and invest, said Peter Kendall of the National Farmers Union of England and Wales. Direct support to farmers is also a key issue for the future CAP, he added, since it helps farmers to cope with market changes.

Delivering public goods

How best to ensure proper use of public spending was another issue debated at the hearing. According to Mr Lyon's text, farmers "should be recognised as main providers of public goods", such as high-quality food production, improved animal welfare and better landscape management and their beneficial effects on the environment and food security.

The EU enjoys high quality standards in its food production, but "this comes at a price", stressed Michel Dantin (EPP, FR), adding that the future CAP must address environmental concerns and "win public support".

Current support system unfair

Most speakers agreed that the current Single Payment Scheme (SPS) is unfair in distributing funds, both among Member States and among farmers. The SPS "has been seen as a right to public funding" said Louis-Pascal Mahé, a Professor at Agrocampus, Rennes, France, adding that "it does not provide relevant incentives to provide the goods society needs".

For the new CAP, "it is not possible to rely exclusively on the market", said Gerd Sonnleitner, Vice-President of COPA-COGECA, an EU-wide body representing farmers and co-operatives. The public "considers CAP expensive, but they do not think about benefits", he noted, arguing that the EU needs to improve the visibility of agriculture's benefits for society as a whole.

The next event in the Agriculture Committee's work on the future of the CAP after 2013 will be a debate with Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, scheduled for 12 April.