Cultivar_7_O risco na atividade economica

O risco na atividade agrícola 19 Risks directly influence farmers’ income perspectives and ability to stay in business. They may also have an impact on long-term planning and the decision to undertake competitiveness-enhancing investments. The effective management of risks “on farm” thus becomes imperative with a view to maintaining and enhancing the viability of the individual farm, the competitiveness and resilience of the EU agricultural sector as a whole, and its contribution to economy and life in EU rural areas. Risks can be addressed through a wide range of instruments which can be applied either ex ante (e.g. via insurance) or ex-post (compensation). Risk management instruments can be put in place by both private and public actors (and also in cooperation) depending on the underlying market situation and can aim at reducing, mitigating or coping with risks and their consequences. History of regulation/legislation The foundations of the CAP have remained unchanged since the Treaty of Rome. One of the most referred to objectives – especially against the backdrop of recent proce difficulties in a number of sectors – is the objective to ensure a fair standard of living for farmers. Although the objective has not changed over the last decades, the way the CAP pursues it has changed significantly. CAP policy in this respect evolved from a genuine market management policy with a guaranteed support of relatively high prices to a system providing an “income safety net” through (i) mainly decoupled direct income support which is granted to farmers independent from any crisis or realisation of a risk and (ii) a “market safety- net” aiming at addressing serious market imbalances. 1 The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) completes the picture offering support for a whole spectrum of measures which help preventing risks or adapting to their consequences e.g. via resilience enhancing investments or via restructuring. In the context of this complementary set of CAP instruments, the 2008 Health Check introduced a “risk management layer” strictu sensu in form of more structural targeted/specific (private/public) risk coverage instruments, i.e. subsidised insurance schemes and mutual funds, notably inserted in the so-called operational programmes for the fruits, vegetables and wine sector. Member States could also choose to subsidise insurance premiums via their direct payment “envelopes” (up to 10%) 2 . In the 2013 reform, these targeted CAP measures on risk management changed in important ways. Although the specific regimes for the fruit and vegetables and wine sector were maintained under the new Common Market Organisation (CMO), the possibility for Member States to reserve a part of their direct support envelopes for risk management purposes was removed. Instead, support for risk management was introduced in the EAFRD for the period 2014-2020, with Member States having now the choice to programme such measures in their Rural Development Programmes (RDPs). In addition to the insurance schemes and the mutual funds the “risk management toolkit” under Rural Development includes the Income Stabilisation Tool (IST). This is a new feature of the CAP aiming to allow for the compensation of farmers – organised in a mutual fund – who experience a severe income drop compared to the individual’s average annual income over a preceding time period. Contrary to the subsidised insurances/ mutual fund, the income compensation is paid regardless of the cause of the income loss. 1 The solidarity packages of 2015 and 2016 were partly adopted under the respective exceptional measures provisions of the CMO regulation. 2 Article 68 of Regulation 73/2009