Bureaucratic Farming
March 17, 2009
EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel will present the details of a scheme on Wednesday that could see officials take part in obligatory farm stays in order to harvest a better understanding of life on EU farms.
The "Harvest Experience" program aims to bridge the gap between the EU’s complex farming rules and the everyday lives of the bloc's farmers.
The scheme’s proponents also hope to farm out the bureaucratic costs of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which consumes over 40 percent of the overall EU budget.
"As from 2010, a training program will be set up for officials from the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development which involves a farm stay," the Commission’s project document says.
"This added understanding may lead to policies that connect even better to the practical situation famers find themselves in and hence contribute to better quality regulation."
The CAP is often criticized for being too complex. Farmers complain of spending too much time ploughing through paperwork and understanding guidelines and not enough time doing what they do best: farming.
There has as yet been no mention of an exchange program, whereby farmers could spend time in the air-conditioned environs of EU bureaucracy.