During his visit to Poland, Commissioner Cioloş pleaded for a more understandable Common Agricultural Policy
The importance of identifying the future aims and objectives for the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) before discussing the levels of funding that might apply was the recurring message given by EU Agriculture & Rural Development Commissioner, Dacian Cioloş in a visit to Warsaw on May 10-11.
In the course of a lively exchange with members of the Agriculture Committee of both the Sejm and the Polish Senate – following similar sessions in the German Bundestag and the French Sénat - the Commissioner stressed the importance of finding objective criteria equally applicable in all member states for the allocation of CAP direct aids in future. "This has to be a way of making the CAP more understandable to all EU citizens", he stated. Commissioner Cioloş also addressed a Conference jointly organised by the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and the OECD about the public debate that he launched on April 12. The Commissioner was accompanied for much of the day by Polish Minister Marek Sawicki, but he also held a bilateral meeting with Jan Krystof Ardanowski of the opposition party.
For the customary farm visit, the Commissioner viewed an experimental farm close to Warsaw which uses pro-biotic micro-organisms in feed in order to boost the conversion of organic matter in dairy cows. This improves the animals' health and welfare, and reduces pollutants in slurry. By injecting the product into the soil before sowing, the farm was also able to report considerable gains in its crop production, with the fields of rapeseed that the Commissioner saw showing strong yields without the use of supplementary pesticide or herbicide applications. Speaking after the visit, the Commissioner underlined the importance of innovation in the future CAP, noting that policy should have a role to play in encouraging farmers to adopt new innovative farming practices which address issues such as the sustainable management of natural resources and climate change.
