Last week, EU commissioner for agriculture Dacian Ciolos presented the commission’s proposal for the CAP after 2014. The main points included maintaining farm spending at about €55 billion a year until 2020, imposing a cap on the total subsidies available to individual farms and requiring farmers to meet strict environmental criteria in order to qualify for subsidies. Among them are the need to grow at least three different crops and leave at least 7% of their land fallow. There would also be premiums available to start-up farms in an effort to encourage young people to go into agriculture.

According to the Flemish Boerenbond (Farmers’ Union), the proposals would mean a three-fold loss for farmers in the region. “The purchasing power of the proposed budget will go down over the years by 12.5% by not being indexed,” the union said in a statement.

“The redistribution of resources between the member states will cost Flemish agriculture a further 7.7%. And the proposed greening, which accounts for 30% of direct payments, offers few opportunities in an urbanising context.

Farming in Flanders is in an area where every square metre of land has to be put to work, where population density is exceptionally high, and where farms are on the doorstep of cities, industrial areas, residential areas and nature preserves. The proposed greening measures will be difficult to adapt to a Flemish context.”

Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters, whose portfolio includes agricultural policy, put a figure on the loss. “The Flemish farm sector is under threat of receiving about €40 million less income a year as a result of the general reduction of the budget and the new division of incomes between the old and new member states,” he said. “I had expected more ambitious proposals. What is now on the table will lead more to a reshuffle of resources between member states than to a more sustainable, competitive and crisis-resistant sector. I expect the commissioner to amend his proposals substantially during the coming negotiations.”

According to the General Union of Farmers (ABS), the proposals are “a slap in the face for agriculture and horticulture in Flanders”. While elements of the proposal such as targeted income support, risk-management instruments and support for research and development as well as for young farmers are all broadly positive, the ABS singled out other aspects of the plan as “downright harmful” for the sector. “Agricultural land in Flanders is so scarce and so expensive that there is simply no room for removing more land from production,” said ABS chairman Hendrik Vandamme.

The current proposals treat the entirety of the EU’s agricultural industry as a single entity, says Vandamme. If the EU loses sight of local requirements, “the fate of the Flemish agriculture sector is sealed.”

Belgapom, the association representing potato producers, said extra support for less productive regions would undermine Flanders’ competitive edge. Environmental organisation Natuurpunt, on the other hand, found that the Commission’s proposals on greening do not go far enough. “The current proposals cannot confront the major challenges we face, such as the demand for food, fuel and energy, climate change and the deterioration of eco-systems,” a spokesperson said. “With this proposal from the Commission, Europe will not succeed in halting the loss of biodiversity by 2020. Europe is not only placing biodiversity in jeopardy, but also those eco-system services on which farmers depend every day, such as clean water, soil fertility and pollination.”