CAP 2023-27 on track? Check it online!

In line with its transparency and monitoring requirements, the European Commission launched today an online dashboard presenting the targets set at national level by each Member State in its approved CAP Strategic Plan, as well targets at EU level. By exploring the interactive dashboard, users can find out for example about the planned number of young farmers supported by CAP to set up in each EU country over 2023-27, the share of agricultural area supported by the CAP for organic farming, or the number of farms benefitting from support for digital farming technology. The search can be conducted by country or by target. 

EU countries started implementing their CAP Strategic Plans as of 1 January 2023 to provide income support to farmers and support them in the transition towards sustainable production.  Each Plan combines a wide range of targeted interventions addressing the specific needs of the EU country concerned. These interventions deliver tangible results in relation to EU-level objectives, while contributing to the ambitions of the European Green Deal.

The CAP legislation includes 44 “result indicators”,  linked to specific objectives. For example, to assess whether the CAP Plan has been successful in attracting and sustaining young farmers, the target set and reviewed will be the number of young farmers benefitting from setting-up support from the CAP over 2023-27.

Monitoring the target by comparing the value achieved every year allows assessing progress towards the final objective. Following annual progress of the CAP implementation will indicate whether the CAP is on track. This will be done publicly and in a transparent way thanks to the online dashboard.

Not all 44 targets need to be included in each CAP Strategic Plan. The planning of targets depends on the needs and planned measures decided at national level. The coverage or uptake of CAP-funded or co-funded actions is typically expressed in terms of areas (share of agricultural land) or beneficiaries (i.e. share of farms).

Given their specific needs, EU countries may choose different approaches: wider coverage of practices for progressive improvements which would lead to higher target values, or targeting of hotspots through more dedicated, ambitious practices but affecting lower numbers of farms or parts of land. The efficiency and effectiveness of these choices have to be seen in the context of different starting points, specific problems of each country, their farming structure, environmental challenges but also regulatory and compulsory requirements. Countries can also amend their Plan over the programming period. The online dashboard will be updated accordingly.

What will the CAP 2023-27 deliver on?

The dashboard allows to look at a few examples of what the CAP 2023-27 will deliver on.

The current CAP has high environmental ambitions. CAP funds come with a set of environmental conditions, covering close to 90% of agricultural area in the EU (cf. target R.4). The dashboard shows that more than 30% of EU agricultural land (i.e. 49.5 million hectares) will be covered by additional measures supporting the conservation/restoration of biodiversity (cf. target R.31). Reduced and sustainable use of pesticides will be encouraged on at least 27% of EU agricultural land (cf. target R.24). Better soil management is supported with CAP on 47% of EU land (cf. target R.19).

Supported agricultural practices may include organic farming, agro-ecology, integrated pest management, or precision farming. 10% of EU agricultural land will receive specific CAP support to convert to or maintain organic farming (cf. target R.29).

Farmers will be supported for managing 2.86 million hectares of landscape features (cf. target R.34) and for establishing new ones, as well as encouraged to have extra non-productive land.

Modernisation of farms will be encouraged via investment support on close to 400 000 farms (cf. target R.9). On generational renewal, up to 380 000 young farmers will set-up with support from the CAP (cf. target R.36).

^{Source: European Commission (all Member States for which the result indicator has been planned)}

The current CAP will also be fairer and small and medium-sized farms will receive proportionally more payments than bigger farms. For the EU, on average, this translates into around 15% higher income support per hectare to the advantage of smaller farms (cf. target R.6).

^{Source: European Commission (all Member States for which the result indicator has been planned)}

The results of any search can be displayed as tables or graphs, all exportable and downloadable. The dashboard will be updated on a regular basis.