This paper aims to explore the importance of the direct-payments scheme as a tool for supporting the sustainable development of agriculture in Poland, and to assess the effects of the 2015 Common Agricultural Policy reform in this context. In particular, the study attempts to investigate the impact of different fund-allocation criteria on the regional distribution of direct payments. The research employs a simulation method in the form of variant analysis (the “what if” model)—a mathematical method with elements of statistical description, based on the complete dataset. For the purposes of one of the variants, a multi-criteria composite indicator was constructed, including stimulants and destimulants of the level of environmental sustainability of agricultural plant production. The analysis was conducted at the NUTS 2 level (voivodeships). The timeframe of the study covered the period 2010–2019. The data published by Statistics Poland and the Agency for the Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture were used as the source material. The analysis indicated that the 2015 Common Agricultural Policy reform redistributed public funds away from sustainable agricultural management principles. Applying some basic sustainability criteria in order to internalise environmental externalities would lead to a radical redistribution of first-pillar Common Agricultural Policy payments. The paper concludes that a real greening of the European Union’s agricultural policy is a task still to be accomplished.
The paper analyses the inequality of distribution between beneficiaries of the EU aid implemented under the system of direct support and assessment of the level of use by the European Union Member States of the redistributive potential of instruments introduced by way of the 2015 Common Agricultural Policy reform. These are especially important issues in the context of aiming at ensuring fair division of funds allocated to agriculture support, not weakening the incentives to raise efficiency. The empirical data were sourced from factsheets of total amounts of direct payments paid to beneficiaries broken down by the EU Member States and support quotas. The research used descriptive statistics methods, comparative analysis and simulations. It was stated that the degree of use of the redistributive potential of instruments reducing the inequalities in the amount of support per a beneficiary granted by a given state does not depend on its place as regards inequality of division of funds between farmers. It may give evidence of different perception of the decision-makers in various countries on the fair division of support. Moreover, some recommendations were formulated as regards redistributive instruments introduced by way of the 2015 CAP reform. According to the author, the mechanism of payments reduction should not be limited only to the basic payment, additionally there should be a possibility to adjust the quota limit at the level of a Member State. This would increase the redistributive potential of this mechanism. At the same time, according to the author, Member States use the possibilities of increasing the significance of redistributive
SummarySubject and purpose of work: The article analyses the influence of optional instruments applied in Poland as part of the first pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy on the average support provided to farms in individual provinces.Materials and methods: The study was based on data from the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture as well as quantitative and analytical methods, especially simulations and comparative variant analysis.Results: The optional instruments applied in Poland increased the average support provided to farms in central and eastern Poland. The average amount of support paid per farm would have been bigger in northern, western and southern provinces if optional instruments had not been implemented. Primarily, the introduction of both redistributive payment and production-related support (all forms of this support taken together) resulted in a decrease in the average aid per holding in the same group of provinces and at the same time an increase in this size in other provinces (compared to the situation in which the amounts for financing these instruments would be distributed under the single area payment).Conclusions: The analysis of the influence of redistributive payment and coupled support on the average amount of financial aid per farm in individual provinces shows that the consequences of using these instruments were very similar to each other in their effect on the variable under study.
Having evaluated the situation in agriculture and rural areas, and having assessed the significance of new external and internal conditions, the European Commission has decided to reform the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union. This article presents the essence of the part of the reform plan which affects the direct support system. The author of the article also examines the impact of the reform on the system’s capacity to achieve the set goals, and on its efficiency. The research showed that the new legal framework proposed by the Commission would not directly improve the efficiency of the system, but the increased decision-making authority it grants to Member States provides an opportunity to reduce administrative outlays on the functioning of the scheme. Likewise, the effectiveness of a reformed direct support system in achieving the set goals will largely depend on decisions made by Member States, i.e. on the appropriate choice of instruments, and the accuracy of their form, as well as the equitable distribution of the available funds.
The planned reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will change the legal framework determining the scope of decisions made by the European Union Member States in the fieldofthe direct payments scheme for farmers. The main goal of this study is to determine to what extent the new legal framework proposed by the European Commission will enable Poland to implement the direct payments scheme in a similar form to the current one. The comparative analysis of the current and planned regulations enabled the identification of equivalents of individual elements of the current direct payments scheme in the new scheme, to indicate differences between them and to assess the significance of these differences. The analysis led to conclusions about the planned reform of the CAP. They concerned the scope of decisions that the Member States could make about the direct payments scheme and the structure of using the funds from the first pillar of the CAP. The analysis showed that the proposed regulations will enable Poland to implement the direct support scheme after 2020 in a very similar form to the one that is used currently.
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