The new Common Agricultural Policy from 2023 is the future program for our farmers – Austria is one of the first countries to implement it

“Today the European Commission gave the green light to our strategic plan for the Common Agricultural Policy from 2023 onwards. We are therefore among the first EU Member States to receive the necessary confirmation for national implementation. This marks the end of a long and intensive negotiation process. We managed to turn a minus into a plus. In the future, as part of the CAP strategic plan, around 1.8 billion euros per year will be available for stabilization of household agriculture and forestry and rural development. With the implementation of the CAP we are finally entering the home stretch,” emphasized Agriculture Minister Norbert Toschnig on the occasion of the approval by the EU Commission. Together with Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg, the CAP is one of the first nine EU Member States to receive the necessary confirmation from the Commission for national implementation. Austria.

“The Common Agricultural Policy is the future program of our farmers. “We are following up on past efforts and proven programs to provide future prospects for our family businesses, strengthen rural areas and expand our pioneering role in resource, environmental and climate protection,” continues Toschnig. The agri-environmental program ÖPUL expands in content and finances. More than 570 million euros will be available every year. This is exemplary in Europe. In addition, we continue to secure agriculture in mountainous and disadvantaged areas. In the case of the compensatory train, the payments for the first 20 hectares are increased again. This way we are also strengthening our alpine agriculture, “said the Minister of Agriculture. EUR 42 million is available annually for LEADER regions. There are also initiatives to promote renewable energy, strengthen village centers and rural innovation systems.

Every day, European agriculture feeds 450 million Europeans. This safe and sustainable supply is based on the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The CAP offers planning security to EU farmers and helps stabilize agricultural markets. CAP supports the economy in rural areas by promoting employment opportunities in agriculture and agri-food sector. It is also an important factor in environmental and climate protection and contributes to the sustainable management of natural resources.

With this in mind, the new CAP is further developed from 2023: the two pillars – direct payments and rural development – ​​will be transformed into an integrated, performance-based model. In the context of the integration of the European Green Deal, accompanied by increased environmental, animal welfare and climate ambitions, the benefit of which should be compensated by appropriate support measures within the framework of the national strategic plan. “Thus we provide our farmers with planning security for the security of population supply. At the same time, we continue on our Austrian path and ensure that our companies and rural areas can continue to develop based on the future,” Toschnig concludes.