The Common Agricultural Policy 2014–2020: scenarios for the European agricultural and rural systems

The reform of Common Agricultural Policy for 2014–2020 aims at promoting greater competitiveness, efficient use of public goods, food security, preservation of the environment and specific action against climate change, social and territorial equilibrium, and a more inclusive rural development. The economic crisis of the last years, the globalization, the increasing pressure on natural resources, the increasing diversity of agriculture and rural areas in the new enlarged Europe, and citizens’ expectations regarding the environment, safety and food quality, health and welfare, preservation of the countryside, biodiversity and climate change, and the unequal distribution of resources are some of the major issues that this policy has faced, in a production context directed by principles of fairness and efficiency. The policy instruments to address these challenges and achieve specific objectives appear greatly transformed and made up of two complementary pillars (direct payments and market measures, the first, and rural development, the second). The perspectives that the new Common Agricultural Policy provides in order to reach a competitive repositioning of the European agricultural and rural systems have been the theme of the 51st SIDEA Conference aimed at promoting a scientific debate on implementation of this policy in Italy. The papers selected for this special issue focus on the new perspectives for European farms, agri-food supply chains, and rural territories of the new Common Agricultural Policy.