Why scientists are calling for a system change

 "After all, there is a lot going on in agriculture that is likely to cause problems for farmers in the long term: Moors are drying up, insects and birds are disappearing, pesticides are damaging the soil, the nitrate level in the groundwater is rising, fields are drying up and animals are suffering unnecessarily. 

In order to stop the decline in biodiversity and minimize greenhouse gas emissions, in order to protect the climate, including animal welfare, European agriculture should fundamentally change. But how? In the 1960s it was a matter of securing food for the population, in the 1980s overproduced butter mountains had to be removed. Since the 1990s, attempts have been made to make European farms competitive in the world market with direct payments. These payments are distributed according to area, which gives the large farms an advantage, many small ones have long since disappeared. 

In all these phases of the CAP, demands have grown that make reforms difficult. The targets and framework conditions of the various environmental protection programs of the GAP are confusing, often contradictory or have proven to be ineffective. In the last reform in 2014, the so-called greening rules were introduced. Since then, farmers have had to implement certain environmental measures in order to receive the full direct payments - but their effectiveness is controversial. 

The magic word of the current negotiations is called "Eco-Schemes": 20 to 30 percent, the exact number is still being disputed, from the money pot, from which the direct payments previously come, should in future be linked to environmental and climate protection measures voluntarily made available by the member states. How exactly these ecological measures look like, whether it is flower strips, extensive grazing or diverse crop rotations, is largely up to the countries. 

However, the exact plans must be submitted to the EU and approved. "If in the end it is 20 percent for the eco-schemes, which are actually used effectively, that is better than the current greening rules, which consist of 75 percent of ineffective measures," says Guy Pe'er."