The European Commission has adopted new measures to help EU countries support farmers facing sharply rising fertiliser costs, making targeted adjustments to the bloc’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Fertiliser prices have climbed across Europe in recent months because of geopolitical tensions and supply disruptions, the Commission said in a statement on Friday, prompting Brussels to act faster and more flexibly.
The package has three main elements. First, a new crisis “liquidity” scheme under rural development funding can be co-financed up to 65% from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). It can draw on unused funds that might otherwise be lost, and national governments can add domestic financing of up to 200%. To speed up delivery and cut paperwork, support can be paid as a fixed amount per hectare, a unit of land equal to 10,000 square metres, and channelled through member states’ existing CAP Strategic Plans.
Second, member states will be able to make advance direct payments to farmers before 16 October with an increased rate of advances, improving cash flow during the autumn period. Third, governments will get extra flexibility to adjust their direct payment allocations for calendar year 2027 to address the impact of high fertiliser prices.
The measures complement an exceptional 540 million euro support scheme announced in the EU’s Fertilisers Action Plan and adopted on 27 July. They are part of a broader response to a fertiliser market squeezed by the Middle East crisis and disrupted supply chains, which has also driven EU state aid approvals such as a 149 million euro Swedish scheme for farmers, fishing and aquaculture companies cleared earlier this week.
The Commission said it will continue to deliver on the Fertilisers Action Plan to reduce farmers’ exposure to future crises and, through these actions, strengthen EU food security, strategic autonomy and competitiveness.
For farmers, the changes mean faster access to cash at a moment when input costs are squeezing margins across the bloc. The new options take effect through member states’ CAP Strategic Plans, which national authorities can amend to unlock the liquidity support before the autumn planting season.
The package is the latest EU response to a year in which energy and input price shocks have repeatedly tested the bloc’s agricultural safety net, and it signals that Brussels is ready to keep adapting CAP rules as long as the supply crisis lasts.
Sources: EUbusiness, The Brussels Times, European Commission
Author: Europe Desk
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