Common Agricultural Policy 2007 – 2013 Vs. 2014 -2020

Slovakia is perceived as a leader among the European countries due to its size of farms. Despite of a high concentration of farms - up to 95.1% of the utilized agricultural land are farmed by large farms - the Slovak agriculture is considerably less productive. The reform of Common Agriculture Policy tries to develop not only the traditional role of agriculture, a food production, but shapes the face of country, affects the quality of environment and also helps to increase the potential of tourism development through the cooperation of direct payments system, capping and greening. To make a right decision in allocation of this support, it is necessary to become familiar with its advantages and disadvantages especially in Slovak agricultural conditions: Direct payments system – the use of objective criteria would ensure a more equitable and efficient use of budgetary resources in comparison to e.g. EU flat rate, where Slovakia is paid with lower direct payments than the other Member States. Objective criteria reflect the dual role of direct payments in providing income support and public goods. Capping - The primary objective of capping is to increase the downward nature of employment in animal production, or at least to maintain its current state in Member States like Slovakia, Czech Republic or Germany, where the biggest farms are located due to the historical development. In previous years, the animal production has been forgotten regarding to higher payments paid to the crop production. This unbalance could be changed by reform of Common Agriculture Policy. Greening – opponents of green rules, which should ensure the maintaining of the permanent pastures; diversification and maintaining the "ecological landscape” highlight their possible negative impacts like reduction in the competitiveness of Slovak agricultural products; decrease of potential output growth; increased costs in crop production; etc. But one of its indisputable advantage hides in the opportunity to spread the crop of soybeans and pulses that could be a rewarding alternative of possible farms losses in these increasingly hotter summers.