Subsidies may assist farmers pay for extra drought-resistant crops
16 Might 2025
2 minute learn
The European Fee has drafted plans to supply new subsidies to farmers who spend money on losing much less water, when the bloc’s big farming subsidy programme is renewed, a draft Fee proposal, seen by Reuters, confirmed.
The European Union’s Widespread Agricultural Coverage (CAP) of farming subsidies is price round 387 billion euros, round a few third of the bloc’s general finances for 2021-2027. EU international locations are getting ready for robust negotiations, later this yr, on their subsequent finances for the post-2027 interval.
A draft EU coverage proposal to handle the intense strain on Europe’s water provides from business and local weather change, mentioned the subsequent CAP would come with new “transition packages” of recommendation and funding for farmers to enhance their water administration.
“The Fee will embrace, beneath the longer term CAP, Transition Packages aiming to help and reward farmers participating in transformational and structural adjustments to enhance the environmental and local weather efficiency of their holdings, together with in the direction of a greater water administration,” the draft mentioned.
The subsidies may assist farmers pay for extra drought-resistant crops, or precision irrigation instruments that waste much less water than conventional irrigation methods.
Agriculture is among the sectors worst affected by local weather change. Europe’s farmers are already struggling beneath rising drought and flooding, which has ravaged latest cereal and fruit crop yields.
But on the similar time, the EU has loosened different environmental measures on farming, in response to intense political strain from farmers’ protests over EU guidelines they are saying are too burdensome.
The European Fee on Wednesday proposed weakening environmental circumstances on present EU farming subsidies, as a part of plans to chop forms for farmers.
The Fee’s draft water technique mentioned the European Funding Financial institution can even enhance its spending on water sector investments, together with for restoring ecosystems like wetlands that may assist buffer towards floods.
It didn’t specify the quantity of EIB funding, which the EU remains to be discussing internally.
A European Fee spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the draft, which is because of be printed in June.
