The total amount of direct aid from the CAP for the 2023 campaign amounts to 4,875 million euros

• A total of 622,404 farmers and ranchers submit the single application for CAP aid by 2023 • 75% of farmers have applied for an eco-regime for areas that represent 87% of the total declared, which shows the great reception of this new measure

August 31, 2023.- A total of 622,404 farmers have submitted the single application for Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) aid for 2023, the first campaign in which the National Strategic Plan of 2023-2027 is implemented. These applications cover more than 22.2 million hectares declared. The extension of the deadline to 30 June has allowed all applications to be processed.

The number of farms applying for aid represents a slight decrease of 3.95% compared to the 2022 season, in line with the constant trend of recent decades and in a significantly smaller dimension than what happened in the first two years of the previous CAP.

However, the total area declared remains stable. This data is indicative of the maintenance of the economic and environmental activity carried out by the agricultural sector in Spain, as well as its greater professionalization. There are fewer farms applying, but these are larger in size.

The total amount of direct aid for the 2023 campaign amounts to 4,875 million euros, which the autonomous communities will be able to pay in the form of advances from 16 October, and which will be paid in full by 30 June 2024. The acting Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has highlighted the importance of CAP income for farmers and ranchers, since it provides stability to agricultural activity, especially in difficult times such as the current one.

In this campaign, at the request of Spain, the advance payment of direct aid is increased from 50 to 70%, which will provide more liquidity to farmers and ranchers, since it will be possible to pay, between October 16 and November 30, up to 3.5 billion euros approximately depending on the payment schedule established by each autonomous community.

The single application is the procedure whereby applications for direct CAP aid and rural development interventions granted by area or head of livestock are consolidated.

Of these applications, almost all of them include at least direct aid from those included in the National Strategic Plan 2023-27: basic income aid for sustainability and its complementary payments (redistributive and young farmer and farmer), eco-schemes and associated aid.

ECO-SYSTEMS AND ASSOCIATED AIDS

The data show the good reception of farmers and ranchers to the eco-regimes, a measure that constitutes the main novelty in the CAP 2023-2027 that begins to be applied this year. 75% of farmers and breeders applying for aid have asked for some sort of eco-regime. This proportion is significantly higher in terms of surface area, since the 19.1 million hectares for which some eco-regime has been requested represents 87% of the total declared in the single application, a percentage higher than that planned in the strategic plan.

Thus, for example, eco-regimes have led to an increase in areas with spontaneous or inert roofs in woody crops, reaching 2.4 million hectares (the number of areas covered was stabilized in the last 5 years at around 1.3 million hectares). In addition, 6.7 million hectares have been allocated to the maintenance of extensive livestock pastures; 5.4 million hectares have been rotated with improving species, including legumes in these rotations; approximately 1.4 million hectares have benefited from the practice of direct planting and 3 million hectares from the practice of agricultural spaces for the preservation of biodiversity.

As for the associated aid, which is granted linked to a certain production, the area requested remains stable compared to 2022 in crops such as rice, industrial tomato or cotton, while it has been increased in the case of sugar beet.

The published data show that, thanks to the efforts of farmers and ranchers, collaborating entities and public administrations, the first stage of applications for aid in this first year of application of the new CAP has been successfully concluded, the minister stressed.

Detailed reports on the single application and the area advance requested for 2023, broken down by Autonomous Community and aid, can be found at the European Commission's website. website of the Spanish Agricultural Guarantee Fund (FEGA).