Direct Income Support and Cross-compliance

Stimulated by the switch away from price support in the early 1990s (the Mac Sharry reform), direct income payments have now become the central policy tool in EU agriculture. More than 70 per cent of the common agricultural practices (CAP) budget is now accounted for by these ‘single’ payments, which are largely decoupled from production. To receive these payments, farmers are required to comply with minimal ‘cross-compliance’ standards related to food safety, hygiene, the environment, animal welfare, and land management. On the basis of a review of both the payment scheme and the cross-compliance conditions, it is argued that further reform could make the system more targeted. This not only concerns the income support objective but also agriculture’s contribution to the provisioning of public goods and green services.