Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1309486
12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 NOVEMBER 2020 Ralph Cassar is secretary-general of AD+PD ralph.cassar@adpd.mt OPINION Ralph Cassar CAP reform: enemy of the European Green Deal TALK comes cheap for some: a case in point is statements about how we must protect farmers in Malta. However, when dealing with the big picture in the Europe- an Parliament, for example, Roberta Metsola and the noto- riously pro-big business EPP, support an anti-environment, anti-green and anti-small farmer EU Common Agricul- tural Policy (CAP). Labour, on the one hand spouts platitudes about wellbeing and the green economy, while on the other hand Ian Borg literally bulldoz- es through farmers' fields. The new CAP comes in- to force in 2023. There is no doubt that the 'old' CAP need- ed reform, but the problem is that the 'new' CAP goes di- rectly contrary to the lofty ide- als expressed in the European Commission's Green Deal. The painful truth is that the new CAP will not tackle con- cretely the issues faced by small farmers, and the wellbeing of the planet, which in turn affects the wellbeing of us all. The new CAP favours huge agro-indus- trial interests, and so continues to subsidise intensive factory farming, responsible, accord- ing to Greenpeace studies, for 17% of all greenhouse gas emis- sions in the EU. What was needed is an ambi- tious programme of ecological modernization of the industri- al farming sector. Maybe what comes to mind in Malta is the small family farm, or SME, and farmers, trying to make the best out of their small holding. Make no mistake, the CAP does next to nothing to help these farmers, to promote sustaina- ble practices and to encourage young farmers. The EU's CAP is a subsidy scheme for huge farming corporations. The Lib- erals, Conservative 'Christian Democrats', and Socialists vot- ed to keep it that way. A mere 30% of the CAP budget will go towards incentivizing green agricultural practices. There is no money in the CAP to help farmers protect bio- diversity, despite the rhetoric of the farmer as a guardian of nature. It also remains unclear and vague, probably on pur- pose, as to how member states can spend their CAP money when in the current climate crisis it would have been wise to establish clear ecological modernization targets. On the other hand, going by today's spending patterns, a third of all CAP spending goes to bare- ly 1% of European farms. 20% of the EU budget goes to prop up intensive agriculture and towards the production of an- imal fodder, that is to prop up big business. The small farmer is all but forgotten. Malta should be at the fore- front in defending small farm- ers. It is in our interest to de-industrialise farming. It is in our interest that the CAP is remodelled to help small farm- ers protect their land, engage in sustainable practices and give them the right and neces- sary targeted help to produce fresh food for local consump- tion. It is also in our interest to make sure that young farmers are guaranteed an income, as farmers providing zero-miles food but also as guardians of nature, such that they are able and willing to take up farming as a career. A long-term plan for sustain- able production of fresh food is sorely needed. The very least that government can do is en- sure that this sector is funded properly, subject to certain conditions: sustainability, the protection of land and the con- servation of nature. It is only the Greens in the European Parliament who as a united group are squarely de- fending the interests of Maltese farmers. The others prefer to pander to big business. The new CAP favours huge agro- industrial interests, and so continues to subsidise intensive factory farming, responsible, according to Greenpeace studies, for 17% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the EU