Turning climate action in agriculture into a business case for EU farmers : a "strawman" proposal

While the EU's agricultural sector faces multiple challenges, the climate challenges of farmers and rural areas are daunting. Business as usual is not an option and novel policy action should be launched during this European parliamentary cycle. Addressing the existential fears of farmers and their families will be key for success. This Strawman proposal identifies five climate actions that are complementary and reinforce each other. They will provide farmers and agribusinesses with predictability and certainty for the coming decades, ensuring that their investments will pay off, securing livelihoods on farms, and creating new economic and employment opportunities for rural areas. The Strawman foresees a sequential, gradual step-up of climate action over the next 5-10 years. Implementing the five elements would mobilise additional financial resources and reduce the dependence on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies. Investments will focus on increasing resilience, fostering innovation, creating new value chains and markets for agricultural products, and improving the productivity of the entire sector and its international competitiveness while maintaining overall food security. For these incentives to be fully effective, policy coherence of the Strawman and the next round of the CAP will be essential.