Background GLB
LNV is mainly enriching advisers with the new CAP
With the introduction of the new CAP and the 7th Nitrates Directive Action Program running parallel to it in 2023, major changes are in store for the agricultural sector. However, the exact effect is still unclear. What is clear is that the system that has now been set up is very complex.
Completing the combined task is high on the list of fun jobs for few farmers. But yes, it's part of it and there is a nice compensation with the direct payments. Completing the combined statement was doable for most farmers, with or without the help of an advisor. The current system is completely overhauled. It remains to be seen how this works out in practice, but we had a less than encouraging foretaste last summer with the BTG check (control of the plot boundaries).
To put it very succinctly, in the new system the fixed hectare premium supplemented by a greening premium is abandoned. The idea in the new CAP is that farmers will be rewarded for social services they provide. There is something to be said for that, but a catch is that farmers will have to do more for a smaller fee. Without going into too much detail, the Netherlands has reinforced that effect by transferring money intended for direct payments to the farmer (first pillar) to the rural fund (second pillar).
Chaotic
The lower compensation has not helped farmers' enthusiasm for the new CAP. In addition, the run-up to the new CAP and the 7th Action Program has been messy to say the least. There would be clarity before the summer so that farmers would have enough time to prepare for the changes in 2023. That planning has been abandoned and decisions and final decisions have been postponed. For example, until November 18 the consultation for catch crops and winter crops still open under the 7th action programme. Things are not much better with the new CAP. The Dutch elaboration in the National Strategic Plan was approved by Brussels at the beginning of October and the implementation decree was not published in the Government Gazette until 10 November.
The fact that the run-up was anything but smooth has not escaped the attention of Minister Piet Adema of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV). “The late finalization of the NSP limits the time to prepare for this transition that the CAP is aiming for,” Adema writes in a statement. letter to parliament dated 14 November. "I realize that this creates uncertainty and concern among farmers and collectives. Winter crops may have already been sown and orders for seed potatoes have already been placed. That is why I want to see the year 2023 as a learning period for this new system. Where possible, I want to think along with the farmers and find solutions if the adjustments in the CAP system or the late preparation for them cause problems. I strive for maximum flexibility in this."
Revenue model
The fact that the minister strives for flexibility and wants to think along with the sector is commendable. What the minister, but also the RVO, threaten to ignore is that the current rules are almost impossible to follow for people outside the ministry. Conditions, eco-activities with points and threshold values and eco-premiums bronze, silver and gold, you have to study them very well if you want to understand anything about them. There is a simulation tool for the new CAP so that farmers can see how it will affect their own farm. The options for this are very limited. An improved version will not be online until February at the earliest. The webinars organized by RVO in recent months also provided few answers to practical questions. "That still needs to be worked out in more detail", or words to the same effect often passed by. Even advisers, whether or not from larger organizations, do not yet seem to have a clear understanding of how (parts of) the new policy should be interpreted. For the ordinary (highly educated) farmer it threatens to become a crime to comply with the rules in the first place and then to pass this on correctly to the RVO. Sketching perspectives and a revenue model for the farmer is a difficult story at LNV. The ministry seems to have much less trouble with an (additional) revenue model for advisers, given the complex system with a lot of open ends that is now being poured out over the sector.
Jurphaas Lugtenburg
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