A resilient CAP?
Resilience related shortcomings in the Common Agricultural Policy.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the 58 billion EUR agricultural support scheme of the EU. Its goal is to economically support farmers and high-quality food production, as well as to protect the environment. Most of the costs cover economic subsidies to farmers regardless of the sustainability of their farming practices or the quality or quantity of their products. Of course, the detailed regulation and financial schemes of CAP are decided at the national level, but the structure is very similar in most cases.
The CAP provides a financial shield against market fluctuations which is important in solidifying farmers and ensuring longer-term investments. At the same time, this stabilization discourages conscious risk management as the financial tolerance of the farms is higher and the economic effects of unexpected events are compensated.
This structure leads to a systematic delay in responding to environmental challenges even if the challenges are known. The three resilience assessments we have conducted over the last two years have shown three regions that are facing dropping water-table levels.
In the Körösök Völgye region, the river currently offers sufficient irrigation water; thus, the question is not even on the table. At Kolon-tó, (which is close to the Homokhátság area we explored) there is a debate and the elevation of the farms make a significant difference in terms of water availability — a sign that the water table already dropped seriously. Finally, at the Southern Homokhátság, aridification is an ongoing process — some stakeholders think it may be irreversible. Here, farmers are more interested in countermeasures even if these are stretching legal boundaries.
When environmental conditions worsen, economic effects are not following them due to the subsidy system. This is an important source of security for farmers, but also generates a perverted incentive for farmers to ignore factors that are otherwise crucial to their long-term success and resilience.
