Speaking on behalf of European farmers and cooperatives, Cogeca President Thomas Magnusson said it is good that the plan keeps both pillars of the CAP and maintains direct payments to farmers. “It will be important to ensure that simplification delivers results for farmers,” he explained. “The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should remain a common policy without any further re-nationalisation and the budget ceiling should be increased to above 1% of the Gross National Income. This will allow farmers and their cooperatives to adequately exploit the future opportunities open to European agriculture.”
He went on to welcome news that there will be a strong rural development pillar ensuring the vitality of rural areas. He stressed that access to broadband will be vital for farmers and cooperatives to make use of new technologies like smart farming and encourage the next generation of farmers to stay on the land.
