• The survey, available online in all languages from March 7 to April 8, received nearly 27,000 responses.
• A more detailed analysis of the responses received will be carried out in the second half of the year.

The European Commission (EC) presented on March 12 the preliminary results of its CAP simplification survey for European agricultural professionals. The survey was part of the measures taken by the Commission to address farmers' concerns and was intended to identify the administrative burden of the CAP. The survey, and its subsequent analysis, should shed light on areas where the administrative work of agricultural professionals could be streamlined.

The survey, which was available online in all Member State languages from March 7 to April 8, received nearly 27,000 responses . Based on all of these, the EC will conduct a more detailed analysis of the responses received in the second half of the year.

X-ray of the respondents

The profiles that responded to the survey form the following picture:

• 81% were farmers claiming CAP support, while the rest were farmers not claiming CAP support ( 16% ) or agricultural advisors and other entities.
• 36% of the agricultural sector professionals who responded were between 50 and 64 years old, and 48% were between 30 and 49 years old.
• Ten percent of respondents work on farms with less than 5 hectares, while 39% work on farms with 5 to 50 hectares. The average farm size in the European Union is 17.4 hectares.
• The most represented types of production were cereals and other extensive crops , followed by beef and dairy products , wine and olive oil .

Partial conclusions

Regarding the survey's objective, the burden of CAP administrative tasks, the responses provide the following initial impressions:

• 33% of respondents work more than six days a year on administrative tasks related to CAP aid applications, including cross-compliance documentation. While 24% of them work five to six days a year , the largest percentage, 38%, work one to four working days a year on administrative tasks.
• 78% of agricultural professionals applying for CAP aid use some form of external assistance to prepare and submit their CAP aid application: either through agricultural professional associations and cooperatives in 36% of cases, private companies such as consultancies or banks ( 25% ) or public authorities for 18% of respondents.
• Fifty percent of respondents requesting CAP assistance do not use mobile devices to provide geotagged photographs to authorities. Of the 50% who do use mobile devices for this purpose, approximately half have issues with it, particularly because it is time-consuming, difficult to use, or they lack information about the accuracy of the provided image.
• Regarding on-site checks on farms over the past three years, 36% of farms were visited once a year, while 16% of farms received at least three visits per year. The preparation and follow-up of these on-site checks required between half a day and a full day of work for 63% of the farmers surveyed. In its simplification proposals, the Commission announced that it will simplify the methodology for certain checks, with the aim of reducing the number of farm visits by state administrations by up to 50%.

Next steps

The European Commission will continue to conduct interviews with agricultural professionals, now individually, as well as with agricultural organizations. The new data collected will be incorporated into a detailed analysis to be published in autumn 2024.

To view the exact data collected in these initial results of the survey conducted for the simplification of the CAP, please go here .