The years 2028–2034 could bring major changes to the Common Agricultural Policy. Its future shape will now be negotiated between the institutions of the European Union. According to Professor Marek Wigier of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics, the new budget should provide an opportunity to view agriculture not as a separate sector, but as an essential element of the EU’s food, economic and energy security.
The effectiveness of the future Common Agricultural Policy will depend not only on the size of its budget, but also on the priorities it sets. In the expert’s view, these should include digitalisation and competitiveness.
“The 2028–2034 financial framework is a challenge for the entire European Union, despite the larger amount of funding allocated to the overall budget. Polish agriculture can expect EUR 42 billion, and perhaps slightly more,” Associate Professor Marek Wigier, Director of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute, told the Newseria news agency.
The European Commission has proposed that funding for agriculture and cohesion policy under the EU’s 2028–2034 budget should be implemented through national and regional partnership plans.
Member states would be given greater flexibility in planning expenditure, but the plans would have to support EU priorities and meet conditions laid down in European legislation.
The European Commission’s proposal has attracted considerable criticism from some agricultural organisations, member states and Members of the European Parliament, who oppose combining funding for cohesion policy and agriculture into a single pool.
Critics argue that the proposal could weaken the Common Agricultural Policy.
The draft budget will now be negotiated by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. The negotiations will cover the total size of the budget, the method of allocating funds and the objectives the money is intended to support.
“We need to move away from viewing agricultural policy through a purely sectoral lens and instead see agriculture as an element of food and energy security and as part of the European Union’s overall development strategy,” Professor Wigier said.
“We must remember that agriculture is responsible for ensuring access to food for 450 million EU citizens, but it is also an important sector of the economy. It generates nearly EUR 240 billion in exports and a trade surplus of EUR 50 billion in the European Union’s foreign trade.”
According to European Commission data, there are 9.1 million farms in the EU, 64% of which cover less than five hectares.
In Poland, according to the Agricultural Census, there are approximately 1.3 million farms, and nearly three-quarters of them cover no more than 10 hectares.
The strategic importance of agriculture also includes the agri-food processing sector.
The food industry consists of more than 309,000 businesses, most of them small and medium-sized enterprises. It employs 4.7 million people and generates more than EUR 266 billion in added value annually.
“The strategic dimension of the sector also includes energy production — 12,000 biogas plants and 1,700 biomethane plants,” the Director of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics said.
“This means that we have an entire business environment which, through agricultural activity, also contributes to food and energy security in the European Union.
“The new budget is intended to safeguard the functioning of agriculture and its surrounding industries and to place the sector among those considered strategic to European security. Whether the funding is sufficient will depend on how the objectives are defined and whether they respond to future needs.”
In the expert’s opinion, the new financial framework should address the most important challenges currently facing agriculture in Poland and across the European Union.
“These will certainly include instruments related to digitalisation, meaning the modernisation of farms and the development of their competitiveness at both European and international level,” Professor Wigier said.
“They should also include instruments supporting multifunctional development, because a large proportion of farms in Poland and the European Union also rely on non-agricultural activities.”
According to Statistics Poland data for 2023, agricultural activity generated more than half of total income for 368,000 households with a farm operator.
For a larger group, paid employment was the main source of income, accounting for more than 408,000 households. In more than 91,000 households, the main source of income was non-agricultural business activity.
“Another priority will be the demographic challenge. Population ageing across the European Union and in Poland, as well as the ageing of farmers, will require financial incentives for successors to take over farms,” Professor Wigier said.
According to the European Commission, people under the age of 40 manage only 12% of farms in the EU, while women in this age group manage just 3% of all farms.
At the same time, one in three farms is operated by a person aged 65 or older.
The Common Agricultural Policy supports generational renewal through instruments designed to help young farmers start agricultural activity and invest in their farms.
According to Professor Wigier, another priority of the new financial framework should be increasing agriculture’s resilience to the effects of climate change.
The report “Study on Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture in the EU, with a Focus on Water Management” estimates that the sector loses more than EUR 28 billion every year because of rising temperatures, more frequent droughts, water shortages and extreme rainfall.
“Financing creates opportunities to improve the competitiveness of farms, enhance the quality of agricultural products and support digitalisation,” the Director of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics said.
“The extent to which farmers make use of these opportunities will largely depend on them, but also on the macroeconomic environment and on the willingness of institutions financing agricultural activity to invest and take risks. I am referring here to banks and insurance companies.”
The European Commission points out that European agriculture continues to face significant uncertainty resulting from geopolitical tensions, climate change and volatility in energy and agricultural input prices.
These factors also affect the profitability of production in Poland, which is one of the European Union’s largest producers and exporters of food.
According to the National Support Centre for Agriculture, the value of Polish agri-food exports reached EUR 58.4 billion in 2025.
“Europe should move ahead by offering products of the highest possible quality on international markets,” Professor Wigier said.
“Maintaining the highest quality and phytosanitary standards in crop and livestock production represents an opportunity — although an expensive one — to distinguish European food in international markets.
“Protecting and developing the European food brand should be one of the overarching objectives in building the future and competitiveness of European agriculture.”
