Public Debate on the Future of the CAP - Questions on the rural development aspects
In the light of the future challenges for agriculture and rural areas, what should be the objectives of the rural development policy after 2013?
- To reach comparable conditions of all EU farmers starting with equalizing the level of direct payments without transfer period and level of national payments. Also taken from the point of view of unified application and exaction of legislation via control mechanisms and harmonization of national approaches.
- To strengthen competitiveness of agriculture and food industry in all regions and production areas. To improve functioning of product vertical from the primary industry up to end consumers. To increase cost- effectiveness and to lower power heftiness of production.
- To preserve adequate incomes of viable agricultural businesses and to lessen social economic differences between regions.
- To minimize differences between rural and urban areas in terms of quality of life, services offer and infrastructure.
- To support development of infrastructure and public amenities and preservation and protection of natural and cultural heritage, thus increasing attractiveness of rural areas
- To balance productive and non-productive functions of agriculture and to value public goods provided by agriculture.
- To secure essential support for public goods, such as landscape cultivation, biodiversity preservation, agricultural land erosion protection, land and water high quality and accessibility maintenance, climate change mitigation, floods preventing measures.
- To strengthen the ability of agricultural production to adapt to negative effects of climate change and to compensate them in order to preserve food security. To support measures mitigating climate change such as complex land consolidation, agro environmental measures through grassland maintenance, support for ecological agriculture and conversion of arable land into grassland, afforestation, building of storage capacities for livestock excrements and manure, modernization of structures intended for animals stabling, construction of biogas stations, biomass production and so on.
- To sufficiently diversify economy in rural areas and secure support for non-agricultural activities. To strengthen favorable conditions for entrepreneurship and for wider spectra of activities in rural areas generally.
- To secure long term perspectives of businesses in agriculture and connected industries. - To increase and maintain stable level of employment rate in rural areas.
- To labor all the aspects of agricultural production use in the area of renewable resources and energetics. To take into account the potential of agricultural sector and all the connected fields in terms of power supply from renewable resources.
- To preserve and widen support measures aimed at improving spatial and age structure of forests and undesirably changed species composition of forests.
- To reconsider provision of financial sources from forestry machinery acquisition in favor of development of forest infrastructure.