During the EU Agriculture ministers’ meeting, European Agricultural Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski noted that the new agreement is essential to guarantee that the Agricultural Common Policy (ACP) leads to a transition to sustainable agriculture.

The new ACP demands to allocate 20 percent of payments to farmers between 2023-2024, and 25 percent between 2025-2027 to ecological plans to protect the environment.

Likewise, it establishes measures to adopt more ecological agricultural practices, and establishes that in order to get help, farmers should include the preservation of soils rich in carbon through the protection of wet and peat lands, and a minimal portion of farming land to protect the biodiversity.

According to what was agreed, in order to use the funds, the European Commission will analyze whether the plans presented by the countries meet EU environmental rules, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The agreement will also allocate subsidies to young farmers, and will set a crisis fund of 450 million euros in case of an emergency.

jg/lcr/mgt/tdd