Chapter 10 Transformations in Croatian Agriculture and Agricultural Policy: Challenges and Opportunities within the European Context

Croatian agriculture is in crisis due to transition problems to market economy. The aim of this paper is to explore limitations of Croatian agriculture as well as possibilities that come along with associations to world and European organizations and associations. Agriculture in Croatian economy participates with 7% in GDP, 11% in employment, 10% in total export and 9% in total import. Important inhibitor for more efficient agricultural production is fragmented family farms (2.6 ha in average) as well as insufficient technological and educational level of agricultural producers what results in low average yields in plant production and in animal husbandry. Foreign-trade exchange of agricultural products in Croatia is constantly negative and increasing (since 1994) with 47% export-import ratio in 2004 and almost 600 mil USD deficit in 2001-2003. Concerning regional distribution of agricultural foreign-trade, Croatian agricultural export is very concentrated (coefficient 95%) and mostly dependent to EU, while export is scattered (concentration coefficient 61%), mostly related to ex Yugoslavia countries, especially Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatia intensified association processes to world and European trade organizations (WTO, free trade agreements with some European countries, Stabilization and Association Agreement - SAA as well as EU accession negotiation process). Regarding consequences of SAA and WTO agreement to Croatian agriculture, it can be concluded that Croatian agricultural exporters has important opportunity to penetrate EU and world market. The problem is lack of competitiveness of Croatian agricultural products on those markets. On the other hand, SAA and other trade agreements will affect positively to consumers concerning tougher competition and lower prices. Croatian farmers are very concerned because of low level of competitiveness of Croatian agricultural products in domestic and EU market, although analysis showed that serious import increasing is not expected in agricultural and fishery sector. For the purpose of better adoption of Croatian economy according to SAA liberalization as well as Common Agricultural Policy, solving of Croatian agricultural problems is suggested as a strategy for easier integration to EU. It concerns changes in agricultural policy, measures of agricultural sector consolidation via development of Croatian agriculture competitiveness level to European, as well as institutions creating and regulatory system harmonized to EU.

The agriculture and food production sectors are of great importance for the economy of every country, especially for the member states of the European Union (EU). The European Union started implementing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 1962. In order to solve the problems and adapt the agricultural policy to the needs of each member country, in the course of years, there have been numerous Common Agricultural Policy reforms. The new EU's agricultural policy emphasizes the multi functionality of agriculture and integrates the environmental component in the form of the environmental management that encourages the sustainable "green agriculture" and the implementation of environmental measures. On the other hand, the process of integration to the EU require from potential member states to pursue the necessary political, institutional, legal, administrative, social and economic reforms required to comply with EU values, progressively aligning with EU rules, standards, policies and practices. For the Republic of Serbia, this issue is extremely important as it should gradually harmonize its agricultural and rural policy with the CAP, in the viewpoint of a potential EU member state. IPARD, pre-accession EU assistance for rural development, focuses specifically on rural areas and agro food sectors of countries in the process of joining the European Union (EU). The new IPARD III programmes for the 2021-27 period further promotes a gradual alignment with the rules of the EU’s common agricultural policy. However, the adoption and implementation of the Republic of Serbia acquis with the EU in the field of agricultural and rural policy will require significant financial and technical investments in the future.

The British Prime Minister Tony Blair has recently put in the centre of the debate on European economic policy the question of the place of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which would represent a too important share of the European budget while, at the same time, almost no support would be given to the research and innovation policy. It would be a policy of the past incapable to face the main issues of the future. Agriculture policy might be renationalised to devote most of the European Union (EU) budget to the policy more turned towards research and innovation. The debate is welcomed but the British position is too simplistic.Structural policies are not reduced to CAP and innovation policy. Regional policy is a matter of concern, and also are competition policy which plays a dominant role, industrial policy which is almost inexistent at the European level and trade policy which has been at the origin of the European construction but is now inscribed in the WTO framework. A critical assessment of the policies followed in these fields at the European level since the 1980s will be made in Section 2. Alternatives proposals will follow in Section 3, showing how it is possible and necessary to conciliate CAP and innovation policy with other structural interventions. The proposed measures make up a coherent programme.Keywords:European structural policiesindustrial policyresearch policyCommon agricultural policytrade policy

The purpose of this diagnostic report is to establish an analytical basis for defining strategic priorities in agriculture and rural development in Croatia, as the country prepares its National Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy and formulates its Strategic Plan for the European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the next programming period (2021-2027). The diagnostic report assesses country-specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (challenges) in the context of the macro-trends and issues affecting Croatian agriculture today, the ongoing EU CAP reform process, and broader national development directions. This diagnostic report is based on a series of background documents prepared by the World Bank as key inputs. Both advanced economic analysis and qualitative assessments were carried out as part of an evidence-based process for sector strategy development and policy guidance. Specifically, the analysis focuses on a range of strategic themes related to agriculture and rural development in Croatia, including (i) Croatian agricultural policy and the current CAP; (ii) the efficiency, effectiveness, and equity of current public spending on agriculture and rural development; (iii) the subsidy intensity of income for different farm types, (iv) backward and forward economic linkages of the agriculture and food processing sectors; (v) economy-wide impacts of agriculture and rural development support measures; (vi) agriculture finance and risk management solutions; (vii) the agricultural knowledge and innovation system (AKIS); (viii) food safety, sanitary and phytosanitary (FSS (ix) trade and strategic market segmentation; (x) agroecological and climate aspects; and (xi) the development of sustainable and circular bio-economies in Croatia. In addition, this report brings forward some key elements of an in-depth sectoral review and policy analysis carried out as an input to the ongoing formulation of Croatia’s broader National Development Strategy (NDS).

Water is a precious resource in arid rural areas with irrigated agriculture. Nonetheless, water and agricultural policies in Europe show different management scopes and objectives, usually translated in divergent drivers of rural change. This paper has a double aim: to propose a specific method for quantitative biophysical analysis of water use in rural systems with the multi-scale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism approach and to show the usefulness of this method for the assessment of the integration of water and agricultural policies. The river basin scale is chosen, since it is the socioecological unit for water management established in the water framework directive 2000/60/CE. A multi-scale water use accounting is provided for a Mediterranean river basin in Andalusia, integrating water cycle, ecosystems and social levels. Particularly focusing on agricultural production, a relevant set of indicators is proposed in order to analyze and compare different metabolic patterns. Finally, the integration of water and agricultural planning is assessed in terms of external (biophysical) and internal (economic, institutional) constraints of the new water-use patterns generated by the scenarios posed in these policies. While on a European level water policy is ambitious in terms of ecological conservation, the lack of integration within the common agricultural policy and the entanglement of multiple scales of political and economic organization of local ruralities blur its priority in a rather slow transition to a new water culture.

In the last few years, significant changes have taken place in the agricultural policy of the European Union. First, in 2020, the Farm to Fork Strategy was presented as part of the broader European Green Deal strategy adopted a year earlier. The main idea of ??this strategy is to redesign the European food system, which has a significant impact on global climate change. It is estimated that almost one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agri-food systems. In addition, these systems use vast amounts of natural resources (primarily water and land), resulting in biodiversity loss. This strategy has contributed to redefining the European Union's Common Agrarian Policy for the period from 2023 to 2027. The Agreement on the Reform of the Common Agrarian Policy was officially adopted on December 2, 2021. One of the critical elements of this agreement is the protection of the environment and the idea of ??making the European Union's agricultural policy "greener". Thus, a strong interdependence between the agricultural policy and the European Green Agreement has been created. On the other hand, Serbia is in the process of European integration, which includes harmonization with the Common Agricultural Policy. Therefore, the new reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Farm to Fork Strategy could be significant for the development of the agricultural policy of Serbia with substantial consequences for the agri-food sector. This paper aims to present new trends in European policy in the food sector and point out the potential implications for the agricultural sector of Serbia.

Agroecosystems are vital for supplying ecosystem services to human society, but most modern farming practices impact detrimentally on the environment. Public agricultural support policies have been critically important in influencing the transformation of the farm sectors; however, few of them have been dedicated to enhancing ecosystem services beyond agricultural commodities. The largest agricultural support system worldwide, the European common agricultural policy (CAP), has now come to a critical point, as major decisions concerning its design and implementation after 2013 are about to be taken. The debate on this reform process presents a unique opportunity to trigger a transition from commodity‐based subsidy policies to policies centered on efficient provision of ecosystem services from agricultural land. To prompt such discussion, we formulate key recommendations informed by a review of ecosystem services literature and address verifiable links to human well‐being, nonmarket valuation for balanced services provision, treatment of ecosystem services bundles, site‐specific and regionalized approaches, matching spatial scales for different ecosystem services, funding permanence for payment schemes, strong monitoring and adaptive approaches to tackling uncertainties, and coherent cross‐sectoral policy design. If these issues were to be considered in formulating and implementing future CAP, it might become an exemplar for redirecting agricultural policies elsewhere in the world toward sustainability.

To understand where European Agricultural Policy might be going for the first decade of the 21st Century, it is necessary to understand its origins and present state. The history of the Twentieth Century in Europe could be summarised, crudely, as a game of two halves; war followed by the European Union. The history of European agricultural policy in the 20th Century could, equally crudely, be characterised as protection (1880s – 1930), followed by more protection (1930 – 1968), then common protection (1968 – 1992), and currently, slowly declining protection (1992 ). The European Community’s Common Agricultural policy was a necessary accompaniment to a common market , and it was bound to be protectionist given its antecedents in the six founder member states. Economic analysis was successful in predicting the ultimate unsustainability of the 1968 CAP based on commodity price supports. Since 1992 the emphasis of support has switched, away from price support, towards direct payments to farmers. This will be entrenched by the Agenda 2000 proposals which are expected to operate until 2006. It is more difficult to predict the longevity of this policy because it is less obviously economically distortive. Its survival is therefore less a matter of economics than politics. Despite this difficulty, it will be argued, somewhat normatively, that the post agenda 2000 CAP is also not sustainable, and that it will slowly transform itself into a more integrated rural policy.

This chapter focuses on the European side of agricultural trade negotiations during the Uruguay Round of trade talks. It draws on the bilateral negotiations and considers the interim agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United States that became known as the Blair House Accord and the specific reactions in Ireland and France. The chapter also focuses on the complexities of the negotiating farm trade within the EU. By the 1980s, European agriculture policy was also in crisis, but its problem was of a very different nature. In the 1980s, agricultural trade policies led to an escalation of friction among states engaged in the international trade of agricultural products. The rationale behind the Community’s negotiation strategy was based on the functioning of Common Agricultural Policy and its linkage of various support mechanisms: price supports, border protection measures, and export refunds.

The purpose of this chapter is to review the academic literature that has contributed to the debate about the European Union’s (EU’s) common agricultural policy (CAP), and the close links between the CAP and the process of economic integration. The CAP has accumulated a vast literature, addressed from several disciplinary perspectives. Thus rural sociologists, economic geographers, political scientists, lawyers and others, as well as economists, have contributed, and there is a growing historiography on the CAP challenging some of the conclusions of earlier scholars. A number of choices had to be made to limit the scope of the chapter. We focus on the contribution of economists, with the selection bias that entails. Yet, the economic literature on European agricultural policy is only part of a wider literature on the economics of agricultural policies and of international trade in farm and food products. We have not attempted to discuss these wider concerns, and instead limit ourselves to the policy debates that have a specific EU resonance. Finally, we have focused on contributions in English. This restriction potentially biases our overview, as it cannot be presumed that the German, French, Italian and other European authors who regularly contribute to this Anglo-Saxon medium necessarily reflect the diversity of scholarship published in their native languages.KeywordsWorld Trade OrganizationAgricultural PolicyFarm IncomeEuropean Economic CommunityUruguay RoundThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

How much priority is given to nutrition and health in the EU Common Agricultural Policy?

This article focuses on the impact and implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy second pillar in the rural territories. Interviews have been carried out among professionals in rural and agricultural institutions which emphasize on local dynamics and specificities. This study is aimed at showing the strategies used by the french rural stakeholders and their attitude towards a common european public agricultural policy.

The iMAP-FP project 1, conducted by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre from 2019-2025, aims to assess the sustainability of farming practices (FPs) using meta-analyses (MAs). The core objective is to create a comprehensive, evidence-based resource to inform European agricultural and environmental policies, particularly within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The project seeks to identify practices that can mitigate environmental impacts while maintaining or improving agricultural productivity.The iMAP-FP dataset encompasses 570 MAs published since 2000, analysing the impacts of 34 categories of FPs on a broad range of different environmental and agricultural outcomes, including GHG mitigation, soil health, water use, pollution control, biodiversity, and productivity. The dataset covers a broad range of geographic regions, and includes >5000 estimated effect sizes comparing sustainable interventions against conventional practices.A free online evidence library 2 provides access to the synthesized evidence on specific FPs and their impacts. Farming practices have also been classified merging nomenclature found in the literature with the European policy contexts 3. An analysis of the MAs trends shows a quality improvement in meta-analysis standards but highlights key remaining deficiencies, including reporting biases and insufficient data sharing. Furthermore, the project identified frequent trade-offs between productivity and environmental outcomes, demonstrating the complex nature of agricultural sustainability. Quantitative effects assessing the climate and environmental impacts of many specific FPs, useful to assess CAP interventions, have also been provided 4,5, as well as a policy-brief report focusing on FPs improving water management 6. A promising pilot trial in merging primary data from 15 MAs focusing on organic vs conventional farming, overcoming methodological limitations, is another output of the project. These outcomes provide policymakers with tools to assess the environmental impacts of specific practices and identify areas where further research and policy intervention are needed.Future developments of the iMAP-FP framework could focus on incorporating new MAs as they are published, updating the dataset with emerging FPs and agroecological systems, and exploring primary-literature data to better reflect context-specific effects. The creation of interactive tools and visualizations could also facilitate access and understanding for policymakers and stakeholders. The use of machine learning tools is also foreseen to automate data extraction, analyze trends, and identify potential research gaps. Finally, the scientific community might engage with the JRC to promote data sharing according to FAIR principles and enhance training in meta-analysis methodologies to inform future agricultural policies.1. 10.1038/s41597-024-03682-62. https://wikis.ec.europa.eu/display/IMAP/3. 10.2760/33560.4. 10.2905/b097f5ed-7eba-4ee0-87a5-a582425eba3b.5. 10.2760/208146. JRC137742 

La política agrícola europea ha estado enfocada a la estabilización de los precios y la intervención de los mercados con una fuerte protección traducida en incentivos y subvenciones al sector agropecuario, así como introducir medidas con lógica territorial y multisectorial. Esta política ha originado una reconfiguración y recomposición social en el espacio rural portugués, que ha afectado particularmente a la agricultura familiar. En este estudio se examina el acompañamiento institucional en el marco de la política agrícola común europea y su efecto en las estrategias de reproducción de las pequeñas explotaciones portuguesas. Se concluye que la instrumentación de la política agrícola europea en el espacio rural portugués ha tenido efectos negativos en las pequeñas explotaciones originando a su interior una reformulación de sus estrategias de reproducción.

Non-technical summary Agriculture provides many benefits to people, such as producing food and creating jobs in rural areas, but it can also have negative impacts on the environment. We analysed existing monitoring indicators for the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to evaluate whether the CAP is effectively achieving multiple social and environmental goals. We found that the current CAP monitoring system is unable to balance many potentially competing goals because its indicators are biased towards a few objectives. We suggest the European Union and its Member States adopt a broader set of indicators covering clear targets when the policy is reformed after 2020.