EU farmer subsidies impossible to measure: auditors

There is no adequate data demonstrating the subsidies from the European Union (EU) to support its farmers' incomes, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors.

Under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU will direct almost one third of its budget between 2014 and 2020, amounting to 270 billion euros (307.12 billion U.S. dollars), to support farmers' incomes and ensure farmers maintain fair living standards.

The auditors examined the design of the EU's performance measurement system for farmers' incomes and whether the necessary statistical data was properly defined and of an appropriate quality.

However, there is no adequate data demonstrating that the support for farmers' incomes under the CAP makes an effective and efficient contribution to its objectives, said the auditors.

The auditors found that the assessing system was not sufficiently well-designed and that the data had significant limitations.

The main tools currently available at EU-level for measuring farmers' incomes are the economic accounts for agriculture (EAAs) and the farm accountancy data network (FADN).

The EAAs are the main statistical source for the EU monitoring farmers' incomes at a macroeconomic level. However, their potential has not yet been fully exploited, and they are not sufficiently informative about important factors that are relevant for farmers' incomes and for the economic value of agriculture as a whole.

The FADN provides income data for agricultural holdings, but has its limitations: the income information available is incomplete, and a significant number of recipients of EU payments are not included.

"These key indicators, on which the Commission has to base its assessments, are not sufficiently reliable and are not linked clearly enough to CAP measures," said Mrs Rasa Budbergyte, the Member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the report.

"As they stand, they are of no use in showing whether the subsidies have achieved their desired effect and reduced the income gap between farmers and others."

"Vague objectives" for some CAP measures and the absence of a baseline add to the difficulty in assessing whether they will meet their objectives, the auditors added.

They made a number of recommendations to help the European Commission improve its measurement of the CAP, including developing a more comprehensive framework for recording and comparing farmers' incomes, more relevant indicators and better quality data.

Under 2013 CAP rules, an updated framework for monitoring and evaluation of the CAP requires the commission to assess the impact of farm subsidies in relation to their objectives. Enditem