31 Amendments of Maria HEUBUCH related to 2017/2088(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas, amongst new entrants, women are identified as primary farmer at greater rates than in the agricultural sector in general;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas young farmers and new entrants represent important sources of innovation and entrepreneurship within agriculture, bringing benefits such as the introduction of new knowledge or techniques, the development of new business models based on end-users, the development of more sustainable farming systems, the development of new organisational models (e.g. share farming, pre-financing, crowd sourcing), the increase of connections between farming and the local community, and the adaptation of traditional knowledge to develop business innovations (e.g. artisanal food production);
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas access to land has been identified as the most important barrier to young farmers and new entrants;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C e (new)
Recital C e (new)
Ce. whereas their access to land is obstructed by, on the one hand, the loss of agricultural land through soil sealing, urban development, tourism, infrastructure projects, changes of use and the spread of desertification caused by climate change, and, on the other hand, by the concentration of land in the hands of corporate groups with subsidiaries and investors from outside the farming sector;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C f (new)
Recital C f (new)
Cf. whereas acquisition of land by means of share purchases and transactions involving large areas of land and speculative price rises pose serious and increasingly alarming problems for new entrants and young farmers in many Member States;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C g (new)
Recital C g (new)
Cg. whereas the current supports, whilst facilitating access to finance or capital, do not address the substantial issue of gaining access to land in order to establish a new farm;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C h (new)
Recital C h (new)
Ch. whereas 80% of CAP subsidies are distributed to only 20% of EU farms, and the actual distribution of subsidies could be even more unequal, as the available statistics do not make it possible to establish anything about the ownership and control of farms;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recommends that the support to the ‘Young Farmer Scheme’ should continue andbecome subject to eligibility criteria to ensure that funds benefit those young farmers whose holdings which have the maximum positive impact on ecological and social goods (biodiversity, environment, climate, water, soil fertility, animal welfare, regional food supply, and job creation) and recommends that the maximum level of national funding allocation be increased beyond 2 % in order to encourage generational renewal
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Reminds that young farmers are particularly engaged in organic and agro- ecological agriculture and activities to develop short supply chains, and calls for focused support for these activities, as it would disproportionately benefit young farmers;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Recommends that supports should be accompanied by qualified and independent advisory servicesfinan;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Recommends that distinctive supports are offered to young farmers and new entrants, including lifting the age limit for new entrants, since entrants at a range of ages bring innovations and new resources into agriculture;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Recommends that the age limit for new entrants should be abolished, and the age limit for young farmers be set at 44, to better suit the current farming demographic and allow better evaluation by adjusting to Eurostat age groups;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Stresses that payments to young farmers should not be delayed, but made periodically and predictably to prevent young farmers from falling into debt and thus hampering their projects;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls on the Member States to give new entrants and young farmers priority in the access to farmland, by making full use of regulatory instruments, in line with treaty provisions, that are already implemented successfully in some Member States, such as state licensing of land sales and leases, rights of pre- emption, obligations for tenants to engage in farming, restrictions on the right of purchase by legal persons, ceilings on the number of hectares that maybe bought, preference for farmers, land banking, indexation of prices with reference to farm incomes, preferential access to state- owned land, taxes, etc.;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Encourages Member States to set up and/or strengthen non-profit land mobility agencies with state participation and under state supervision, equipped with a land fund and a pre-emptive right for the purpose of improving agricultural structure, which can be entrusted with accompanying the settlement of young farmers and new entrants;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Believes that a proper definition of an active farmer will help generational renewal, drive structural change and aid land mobility;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Stresses that the definition of active farmer should include criteria other than the level of agricultural production, so as not to exclude part-time farmers or those who have diversified their activities, and that are providing ecological and social goods (biodiversity, environment, climate, water, soil fertility, animal welfare, regional food supply, and job creation);
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Calls on Member States to raise pensions for farmers to the level of average pensions of employees, and to ensure that farmers’ pensions are above the poverty line as a minimum;
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Believes that the Member States and the regions should be given more power to regulate farmland and set restrictions to that end, particularly with a view to tackling Europe’s land-grabbing and concentration phenomenon, including the trend towards share purchases by corporate groups with subsidiaries, which is limiting young farmers’ options when starting out;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Welcomes the Commission Interpretative Communication on the Acquisition of Farmland and European Union Law, but points out that the Communication does not reflect sufficiently on how to regulate share purchases by corporate groups which are often active transnationally; calls on the Commission to update the Communication in this respect;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Calls on the Commission to finance a study on the current state of land concentration in Europe that takes into account the phenomenon of corporate groups with subsidiaries that acquire and control land via share deals, and that analyses the risks that land concentration poses, not only as concerns access to land for young farmers and new entrants, but also as concerns food supply, employment, the environment, soil quality and rural development in general;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to collect data on the acquisition of land by means of share purchases and on transactions involving large areas of land, and to ensure that corporate groups with subsidiaries which receive agricultural payments are recorded and identifiable both in the EU Farm Structure Survey and in the EU database on CAP beneficiaries;
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 d (new)
Paragraph 14 d (new)
14d. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt legal protection measures to protect young farmers’ holdings and projects from the development of urban projects or infrastructures that may damage their investments;
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 d (new)
Paragraph 14 d (new)
14d. Recommends interconnection of the collected data with the Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS);
Amendment 251 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Believes that a proper definition of active farmer will help generational renewal, drive structural change and aid land mobility;
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to make information available to young farmers and new entrants on innovative and non- conventional approaches that are best suited to starting a new farm, such as the development of new business models based on end-users, the development of more sustainable farming systems, the development of new organisational models (e.g. share farming, pre-financing, crowdsourcing), the increase of connections between farming and the local community, and the adaptation of traditional knowledge to develop business innovations (e.g. artisanal food production);
Amendment 281 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Calls for women's entrepreneurial spirit and initiatives to be encouraged, in particular through the promotion of female ownership, networks of female young farmers, new entrants and entrepreneurs, and provision in the financial sector for facilitating access for rural businesswomen to investment and credit, thus enabling them to develop businesses from which they can make a stable living;
Amendment 287 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Considers that developing modern agro-ecological agricultural practices will make agriculture more attractive to young farmers; stresses the need to support innovative and non-conventional approaches such as agro-ecology, new business models based on end-users and digital farming technology, and urges the Commission to ensure that any future CAP reflects this;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Asks the Commission and the Member States for a firm commitment to direct marketing channels that allow young farmers to sell their products in local markets in a more sustainable way and with a greater benefit;
Amendment 303 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Calls on the Commission to orient direct payments towards small-scale holdings and agro-ecological farming in the upcoming CAP-reform, as this will disproportionately benefit younger and new entrant farmers;