Organic Farming Support Payments in the EU

Summary

The project was commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection and aims to provide an overview of the organic support scheme in the EU in the current programme period. More specifically, the overview provides detailed information on the implementation of the organic support payments in EU Member States and their regions, including payment design, eligibility and management requirements, certification support, and aspects in relation to scheme access, planned payment changes and possible combinations with other agri-environment measures. The report is aimed at policy-makers, stakeholders and scientists with an interest in organic farming and related policies. The report covers 24 Member States. Cyprus and Malta have been excluded due to their negligible area of organic farming and no data could be obtained from Romania. In addition, the report includes a detailed regional coverage of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The data on the organic support payments have been collated through a survey of relevant organisations in each Member State in 2009 and early 2010. In addition, data available from published rural development programmes and other online sources were used to obtain additional information on the organic support payments in the previous and current programme periods.