Agriculture is a fundamental sector fulfilling the basic requirements of all mankind. It provides the food we eat and uses the natural assets that surround us in this process. It is proven that agricultural practices have determining impact on the healthiness of soil, water, landscape and biodiversity, and greatly influence air quality. And for the last couple of years, unfortunately, green indicators in agriculture show red flags both in statuses and tendency.
Its role is so important, that the conditions of how agricultural activities may be pursued are mostly controlled centrally by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the European Union – and as part of that, in Hungary, too. Plans for support interventions are elaborated for seven year periods, just like in the case of other Operational Programmes. With the closing of the 2014-20 period, Rural Development Program and its extension to the transition years of 2021 and 2022, a new era is coming with the so-called CAP Strategic Plan, for 2023-27.
The new Plan is based on a new set of principles and rules, all emphasizing the need for a much more ambitious green approach. The view is simple: as agriculture has the most effect on environment out of the sectors of the economy, the subject of the support has to be shifting from financial and technical performance and productivity towards green performance. Grants should compensate for additional efforts put into preserving the environment – even by implying restrictions to existing agricultural activities and the way they are carried out.
As a result, the green architecture of the new Plan has to be, and will be overwhelming. It presents a paradigm shift and defines new tracks for thinking. It also views upon agriculture as the set of services responsible for taking care of environmental conditions – and not only as users or exploiters of the natural assets.
We, at DevEco, have had the honor to support the Hungarian agricultural ministry, policy players and authorities as part of an excellent consultancy group since 2020. We have played a leading role in the 19 thematic agri evaluations of the 2014-20 period, the ex ante evaluation of the CAP Strategic Plan, we supported the Strategic Environmental Assessment, and we have been acting as a management support function for the Ministry along the past months of negotiating terms with the European Union and the months to come.
Link to news: https://www.portfolio.hu/unios-forrasok/20221107/nagy-hir-jott-brusszelbol-elfogadtak-a-magyar-agrarpenzek-programjat-577101
If there is a shift in a market, then it is the responsibility of consultants to assist their Clients along the way. It requires effort from farmers to agri experts, to see the role of agriculture in a different way through ‘green glasses’ – for a more preserved and more healthy environment. Let’s walk this moderately beaten path together.
— The DevEco Consulting Team
#sustainability #agriculture #CAP #exante #greenarchitecture #DevEco
(source of photo: fao.org)