Farming Income Support - Infopage
Distribution of income support and share in farming income.
Background information
One of the main objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, in particular by increasing the individual earnings of farmers and agricultural employees engaged in agriculture.
Agricultural income is lagging behind income compared to the rest of the economy and it is more volatile due to agricultural price volatility and to risks stemming from climate change. CAP income support helps to stabilise farm income as illustrated in the dashboard, while at the same time it remunerates farmers for the delivery of public goods related to environment, biodiversity, climate and landscape features.
More information on direct support and economic challenges facing EU agriculture are available on the Europa website.
Further information on this CAP Objective can be found in this document: Ensuring viable farm income.
In case data are missing for some Member States, EU totals are calculated with the available information.
Figure: Total number of CAP income support beneficiaries
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Type
Name
Parameter
Code
Unit
Source
Notes:
- CATS is the Clearance of Accounts Audit Trail System, i.e. the database used for audit, based on information received from Member States.
- It includes beneficiaries of direct income support (Pillar I). It is assumed that the beneficiaries of Areas facing natural constraints support under rural development programmes (Pillar II) are also beneficiaries of direct income support.
Figure: Average CAP income support per beneficiary (EUR)
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Type
Name
Parameter
Code
Unit
Source
OIR_01 Total public expenditure - Measure 13 (ANC)
total (EU funds)
OIR_01b_2.13
euro
DOE
Mapping with legend(s) in the graph:
Legend
Code/Formula
Support per beneficiary
(OID_01_3 + OID_02_3 + OID_04_3 + OID_05_4 + OID_12_3 + OID_13_3 + OID_14_5 + OID_15_3 + OID_16_3 + OIR_01b_2.13) /OID_00_1
Notes:
- CATS is the Clearance of Accounts Audit Trail System, i.e. the database used for audit, based on information received from Member States.
- AGREX is the Information System for Agriculture Refund Expenditure.
- The Declarations of expenditure for European agricultural fund (DOE) are quarterly notifications of Member States expenditure.
- It covers the direct income support (Pillar I) as well as support to Areas facing natural constraints (Measure 13) under rural development (Pillar II). The national co-financing is not accounted for. It is assumed that the beneficiaries of Areas facing natural constraints support under rural development programmes (Pillar II) are also beneficiaries of direct income support
Graph: Share of holdings receiving direct payments (%) - beneficiaries of first pillar
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Type
Name
Parameter
Code
Unit
Source
C.17 Agricultural holdings (farms)
total
CTX_SEC_17_1
farms
Eurostat, Farm Structure Survey (ef_kvaareg)
Mapping with legend(s) in the graph:
Legend
Code/Formula
Holdings not benefiting
1-(OID_00_1/CTX_SEC_17_1)
Beneficiaries
OID_00_1/CTX_SEC_17_1
Notes:
- CATS is the Clearance of Accounts Audit Trail System, i.e. the database used for audit, based on information received from Member States.
- This indicator relates only to direct support under Pillar I (decoupled and coupled payments).
- The number of CAP beneficiaries is divided by the number of holdings in the Farm structure survey.
- In some Member States (e.g. DE and DK), the number of holdings is below the number of CAP beneficiaries because of the threshold applied to conduct the Farm Structure Survey (FSS). In these Member States, the area threshold to receive direct payments is lower than the threshold applied in the FSS.
- By contrast, in BG and RO a majority of holdings does not benefit from CAP support because of the large number of farmers below the area threshold applied in these two countries to receive direct payments, 0.5 hectare and 1 hectare respectively. In addition, national laws in Bulgaria on compulsory insurance lowers the incentive for very small farms to apply for direct payments.
Map: Average EU CAP income support per ha
Direct payments and support to areas facing natural constraints
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Type
Name
Parameter
Code
Unit
Source
OID_01 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)
Determined area
OID_01_2b
Number of hectares determined
CATS
OID_02 Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS)
Determined area
OID_02_2c
Number of hectares determined
CATS
OIR_01 Total public expenditure - Measure 13 (ANC)
total (EU funds)
OIR_01b_2.13
Euro
DOE
Mapping with legend(s) in the graph:
Legend
Code/Formula
Support per ha
(OID_01_3 + OID_02_3 + OID_04_3 + OID_05_4 + OID_12_3 + OID_13_3 + OID_14_5 + OID_15_3 + OID_16_3 + OIR_01b_2.13)/(OID_01_2b + OID_02_2c + OID_13_2)
Notes:
- CATS is the Clearance of Accounts Audit Trail System, i.e. the database used for audit, based on information received from Member States.
- AGREX is the Information System for Agriculture Refund Expenditure.
- The Declarations of expenditure for European agricultural fund (DOE) are quarterly notifications of Member States expenditure.
- It covers the direct support (Pillar I) as well as support to Areas facing natural constraints (Measure 13) under rural development (Pillar II). The national co-financing is not accounted for. As regards the area, the sum of area paid for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS) and the Small farmers' scheme (SFS) corresponds to the total area granted income support, said differently the area granted the other kind of support (such as coupled support) is also granted BPS or SAPS or SFS.
Graph: Share of direct support in agricultural factor income (%)
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Type
Name
Parameter
Code
Unit
Source
RPI_01 Share of direct support in agricultural income
Factor income
RPI_01_1
%
Eurostat, DG AGRI
Notes:
- It covers only the direct support (Pillar I).
- The agricultural factor income (Eurostat) measures the income derived from agricultural activities that can be used for the remuneration of own and rented production factors: labour, land and capital. It is higher than the Agricultural entrepreneurial income measuring the income that can be used for the remuneration of own production factors, i.e. non-salaried (= family) labour, land belonging to the agricultural holding and own capital.
- The agricultural factor income is comparable between Member States with a large share of salaried labour and those with a majority of family labour.
Graph: Level of agricultural income and share of direct support in income
Factor income in real terms (EUR/AWU)
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Type
Name
Parameter
Code
Unit
Source
C.25 Agricultural factor income
total
CTX_SEC_25_1
EUR (in real terms)/AWU
Eurostat, Economic Accounts for Agriculture (aact_eaa04, aact_ali01)
RPI_01 Share of direct support in agricultural income
Factor income
RPI_01_1
%
Eurostat, DG AGRI
Mapping with legend(s) in the graph:
Legend
Code/Formula
Factor income per AWU in real terms
CTX_SEC_25_1
Share of direct payments in income
RPI_01_1
Notes:
- It covers only the direct support (Pillar I).
- The agricultural factor income measures the income derived from agricultural activities that can be used for the remuneration of own and rented production factors: labour, land and capital. It is higher than the Agricultural entrepreneurial income measuring the income that can be used for the remuneration of own production factors, i.e. non-salaried (= family) labour, land belonging to the agricultural holding and own capital.
- The agricultural factor income is comparable between Member States with a large share of salaried labour and those with a majority of family labour.
Graph: Share of supported hectares in UAA (%)
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Type
Name
Parameter
Code
Unit
Source
C.18 Agricultural area
total utilised agricultural area (UAA)
CTX_SEC_18_1
1000 ha UAA
Eurostat: apro_cpsh1
OID_01 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)
Determined area
OID_01_2b
Number of hectares determined
CATS
OID_02 Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS)
Determined area
OID_02_2c
Number of hectares determined
CATS
Mapping with legend(s) in the graph:
Legend
Code/Formula
Basic Payment Scheme
OID_01_2b/(CTX_SEC_18_1*1000)
Single Area Payment Scheme
OID_02_2c/(CTX_SEC_18_1*1000)
Small farmers scheme
OID_13_2/(CTX_SEC_18_1*1000)
EU (average)
(OID_01_2b+OID_02_2c+OID_13_2)/(CTX_SEC_18_1*1000)
Notes:
- UAA: Utilised agricultural area. The source for the total UAA is the crop production statistics (Eurostat).
- CATS is the Clearance of Accounts Audit Trail System, i.e. the database used for audit, based on information received from Member States.
- The sum of area paid for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS) and the Small farmers' scheme (SFS) corresponds to the total area granted income support, said differently the area granted the other kind of support (such as coupled support) is also granted BPS or SAPS or SFS. The UAA is usually higher than the share of hectares supported. However, the number of hectares supported is sometimes higher than the UAA (for example in CY and CZ) because of differences between the definition of eligible area for direct payments and the UAA (e.g. common land is not always included in the UAA).