Cultivar_7_O risco na atividade economica

cadernos de análise e prospetiva CULTIVAR N.º 7 MARÇO 2017 20 It is important to note that independently from the CAP-supported schemes many Member States, have deployed their own publically supported risk management support mechanisms under state aid rules, leading e.g. to well- functioning national schemes for insurances and mutual funds (such as those in Spain, France, and Hungary) In order to facilitate the uptake of the risk management toolkit in the current 2014-2020 programming period, the Commission has recently proposed 3 to change the outline of the mutual fund/IST legislation by providing the possibility for farmers/Member States to set up a sector-specific mutual fund/IST, by lowering the income loss threshold for compensation from 30% to 20% and by providing the possibility for the public funds to contribute to the initial capital stock. 4 Future challenges As referred to in the introduction, agricultural risks are inherent to agricultural production and an efficient approach to risk management is therefore required in which each actor assumes their share of the responsibility. Our responsibility – as policy makers – is to create an adequate framework to support the farming sector to successfully deal with risks and crisis by enhancing its resilience. EU agriculture is just coming out of two years of crisis in agricultural markets during which we have essentially deployed the full toolkit available under the CAP and I think it’s fair to say to a positive effect. However, what the last two years have also shown is that we need to reconsider the effectiveness of the toolkit available: 1. Do existing CAP tools allow the EU to intervene sufficiently and quickly enough at time of crisis? 2. Should farmers have greater built-in measures to help them in times of crises on the basis of a risk management approach? 3. Do producers and processors have the ability to diversify their markets or to find new markets in times of market loss? The ongoing process on the “modernisation and the simplification of the CAP” offers an excellent opportunity for addressing these issues. It benefits from the input of many stakeholders which place agricultural Risk Management tools high on the agenda. For example, the “Agricultural Market Task Force”, an independent group of experts, which was asked by the Commission to provide a set of clear recommendations on ways how to improve the positioning of the farmer in the food supply chain, dedicated a substantial chapter of their report 5 on the theme. Stakeholders and citizens across the EU have also the possibility to share their experiences and views in the ongoing public consultation which is open until 2nd May on the Commission’s webpage 6 . The CAP has over time evolved significantly in terms of how to address risks; however the policy has certainly not reached an end-point and we need to constructively see how to take it forward and keep it fit for purpose. 3 As part of the so-called “Omnibus” regulation, currently following the decisi on process by the co-legislators 4 The constitution of the initial capital stock of the mutual funds cannot be supported by public funds. 5 https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/agri-markets-task-force_en 6 https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/consultations/cap-modernising/2017_en