European Union reforms Agriculture policy (CAP)

European Union farm ministers have agreed to further reform their common agricultural policy by removing some of the remaining intervention mechanisms and restrictions on farming, shifting more money into rural development and increasing milk production quotas before they are fully abolished in 2015.

The reforms reflect a "health check" of the EU’s common agriculture policy (CAP) 2003 reform, launched by the European Commission last May to decouple the last subsidies tied to production. Breaking the link between production and subsidies enables European farmers to respond to market demands, i.e. to produce what the market requests instead of producing what government dictates. However, EU Member States retain the option to make specific payments for suckler cow herds and goat and sheep.