The Common Agricultural Policy has undergone fundamental reforms over time in order to respond to changing economic conditions as well as societal expectations and demands. Ruta Landgrebe, a Fellow at Ecologic Institute, spoke to a GIZ delegation from China about the developments and perspectives of agricultural and rural development policy in the EU and its implementation in Germany.

Today, the Common Agricultural Policy benefits society by encouraging the production of safe and high quality food, thereby supporting the maintenance of successful rural communities and providing farmers with incentives to protect the environment. At the same time, however, the CAP faces particular challenges, such as increasing globalisation, mounting environmental pressures (climate change, water availability and quality and biodiversity loss), raised price volatility, and food security issues.

The presentation provided a brief outlook on the historical developments of the CAP and the challenges facing it today. Furthermore, Ruta Landgrebe presented the political framework and information about financing, the integration of the environmental issues and the rural development policy. The presentation was complemented with examples of the structure in the agriculture sector and implementation in Germany. Of particular interest to the Chinese delegation were questions about the practical implementation of the EU agricultural and rural development policy in Germany. The discussion with the participants focused on the topics such as the monitoring and control of implementation as well as financial support to farmers.

The presentation is available for download in English [pdf, 1 MB] and Chinese [pdf, 1.2 MB].

Further lectures:

• Introduction to European and German Environmental Policy
  (R. Andreas Kraemer, Director Ecologic Institute)
• Security through Energy Policy: Germany's Strategy in Context
  (R. Andreas Kraemer, Director Ecologic Institute)
• Biodiversity Policy in Germany and the EU: Recent Developments and Perspectives
  (Sandra Naumann, Ecologic Institute, Coordinator Latin America, Fellow)
• European and German Waste Policy
  (Alexander Neubauer, Ecologic Institute, Coordinator European Research, Senior Fellow)
• Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
  (Alexander Neubauer, Ecologic Institute, Coordinator European Research, Senior Fellow)
• General Overview of European Water Policy
  (Dr. Manuel Lago, Fellow, Environmental/Natural Resources Economics)
•  International cooperation for transboundary water pollution control: The Rhine River example with focus on the Rhine/Danube-Basin
  (Dr. Darla Nickel, Coordinator Water Studies, Fellow)
• Gaining public acceptance: case study waste recovery
  (Andreas Fußer, Hand & Fußer Konzept und Kommunikation)