No. 34 The future of the Common Agricultural Policy 88 ANALYSIS AND PROSPECTIVE STUDIES CULTIVAR Maintainig the two pailrls, defendintghe common and autonomous natureof the CAP Agricultural policies must continue to support the public goods produced by agriculture. In this context, the right to sufficient and healthy food, which respects local practices and consumer choices, is a public good that must be preserved. So too are the vitality of rural areas, the preservation of cultivated and uncultivated biodiversity, and the preservation of the social and cultural heritage fostered by agriculture and agri-food production. It is in this context that it remains fully justified to support farmers' incomes, directly supporting the right to sufficient and healthy food, and indirectly supporting other public goods. The latter should also be the target of specific support. The CAP must therefore remain structured on two pillars, with a budget sufficient to meet current needs. The CAP must also remain a single policy within the EU, not only avoiding its fragmentation by Member State, but also preventing countries with greater economic power from creating even more advantages for their farmers in relation to other Member States. Nevertheless, it makes sense for the CAP to take national and regional specificities into account, particularly when it comes to production methods that require differentiated measures in order to be defended. Redistributioannd priorities: how to distribute CAP support more fairly, supporting all those who produce A fundamental issue concerns fairness in the distribution of direct income support. The current criteria for such aid, based on areas and a limited distribution of entitlements, immediately introduce severe injustices. These have been exacerbated by the need to access eco-schemes in order to receive the full amount of support, without these eco-schemes being accessible to all farmers. To overcome these injustices, it is essential that this support reaches all those who produce, and only those who produce. It is necessary to introduce capping and modulation for all support, whether in the first pillar or the second. It is even more necessary that the funds resulting from the application of modulation and capping be used to redistribute and strengthen support for those most in need. This includes small and medium-sized farmers (in particular, those with family farming status), new farmers (especially young people), women, farms in disadvantaged areas or with environmental constraints, and the application of agroecological practices. Payments to small-scale agriculture must be strengthened and made accessible to all small farmers. The EU and the CAP must recognise common ownership and end discriminatiaognainst ocmmo n land The Portuguese experience also requires the recognition of common ownership, particularly common land, with its multiple uses serving communities, ending negative discrimination and cuts in access to CAP support. Defending access to land and its agricultural use must be priorities for the EU Regulation on access to land is justified, primarily at Member State level, but it could also be extended to the EU level. Mechanisms need to be created to make productive land available to new farmers at affordable prices. The purchase of land by financial funds, especially for speculative purposes, should be prevented. Mechanisms must also be put in place to limit competition for nonagricultural uses of productive land or land of high Nature value. Limits must also be set on land concentration. Furthermore, the dominant position of economic groups and capital originating mainly from outside the sector must be curbed by limiting verticalisation and concentration of demand.
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