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DRAFT REPORT (2025/2052(INI))

On the future of agriculture and the post-2027 common agricultural policy

AGRI-PR-770187

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development · Rapporteur: Carmen Crespo Díaz

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✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

This draft report sets out Parliament's vision for the post-2027 common agricultural policy (CAP), calling for a larger budget, simplification, support for farmers and rural areas, and a focus on innovation and generational renewal. It urges the Commission to integrate water management, boost the bioeconomy, strengthen risk management, and ensure fair trade, while maintaining the two-pillar structure and supporting specific sectors.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes a resolution that welcomes the Commission's Vision for Agriculture and Food, but calls for a larger CAP budget, simplification, and a focus on competitiveness, innovation, and generational renewal.

Key points

  1. Calls for an increased CAP budget in the next multiannual financial framework to ensure food security and sustainability.
  2. Stresses the strategic role of agriculture in European security and sovereignty, and the need for fair competition and reciprocity in trade.
  3. Supports safeguarding direct payments for all professional farmers, including multi-activity farmers and livestock breeders, based on an area-based model.
  4. Calls for a CAP Pillar II separate from but coordinated with cohesion policies, and for better synergies among EU funding instruments.
  5. Urges simplification, incentives over obligations, and reassessment of cross-compliance to reduce administrative burdens.
  6. Demands systematic impact assessments for trade agreements and reinforcement of controls at origin and border, possibly through a European control agency.
  7. Calls for better crisis management, including an increased agricultural reserve, automatic triggers for disaster aid, and improved coordination with the Solidarity Fund.
  8. Asks for measures to boost protein-crop production and livestock competitiveness, and to update POSEI allocations for outermost regions.
  9. Emphasises generational renewal, calling for compulsory support for young farmers, land access policies, and retirement schemes.
  10. Highlights the need for investment in research and innovation, including new genomic techniques, and support for digitalisation and precision farming.
  11. Calls for integrating a water perspective into the CAP, with investment in infrastructure and sustainable irrigation.
  12. Promotes the circular economy and bioeconomy, including carbon removal certification and biogas, to boost farmers' incomes and energy autonomy.

Who is affected

  • Farmers and livestock breeders across the EU, who would benefit from continued direct payments and reduced administrative burdens.
  • Young and new farmers, who would gain from generational renewal measures, land leasing policies, and training opportunities.
  • Rural communities, which would see support for infrastructure, services, and economic diversification.
  • Sectors such as fruit and vegetables, wine, beekeeping, and livestock, which would receive targeted support.
  • Outermost regions, which would benefit from updated POSEI allocations.

Figures and deadlines

  • 9.1 million farms in the EU, a decrease of 37% compared to 14.4 million in 2005.
  • Agricultural land accounts for 40% of European territory; agri-food sector employs 8.7 million people and accounts for about 7% of GDP.
  • 92% of citizens say agriculture is important; 77% agree the CAP ensures a stable supply of safe food.
  • Agricultural income stands at 47% of average gross wages in the EU.
  • Drought causes annual economic losses of up to EUR 9 billion in the EU.
  • About 70% of protein-rich feed is imported from third countries.
  • 57.6% of farm managers were over 55 in 2020; under 35 represent about 6% in 2021.
  • POSEI budget allocations have not been revised since 2007, resulting in cumulative depreciation of at least 36%.

Legal basis: Articles 38, 39, 40, 42, and 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union