EU CAP reforms related to production and marketing of hops

M. Pavlovic

Abstract: Since its inception, the common agricultural policy (CAP) has been under constant internal and external reform pressures. This study belongs to a Health Check of the EU’s latest CAP reform phase, which started in 2007. It analyzes the main effects of the CAP reform in 2003 (decoupled aid, as established by Council Regulation 1782/2003) on the hop industry sector. The research results demonstrate to what extent the CAP measures supporting hops have affected the production decisions of farmers in the EU’s traditional hop production areas. There were three judgment criteria considered and discussed: (i) the extent to which the CAP reform has influenced the profitability of hops (production areas, capital investments); (ii) the extent to which the effects on production vary between, on the one hand, countries adopting fully decoupled support and, on the other, countries adopting partial coupling; and (iii) the extent to which producer groups contributed to stabilizing markets. The results illustrate that there was no evidence that CAP measures introduced after the reform had a significant influence on the production decisions of farmers in the traditional hop production areas from 2004 to 2008.

Keywords: CAP reforms; farmers decisions; health check; hop industry; IHGC

Date published: 2019-08-22