Meeting of EU Ministers of Agriculture in Cyprus
04.05.2026
Climate change and increasingly frequent crises are affecting agriculture in the European Union. Poland is seeking stronger support for farmers and simpler rules of the Common Agricultural Policy. These issues are discussed by the Ministers during an informal meeting in Nicosia.
The Polish delegation is chaired by the Minister of Agriculture Stefan Krajewski.
– Climate change is increasingly affecting agriculture, therefore, we need specific support mechanisms to increase farm resilience and farmers’ competitiveness – said Minister Stefan Krajewski.
Simplification of the CAP and greater availability of instruments
Farmers rarely make use of the available risk management tools. This is caused by complicated rules and incompatibility with farm realities.
– The current instruments of the Common Agricultural Policy are necessary but they must be simpler and better adapted to farm realities. Farmers must be able to make real use of them – stressed the Minister.
Today, risk management tools are used by only a small part of farms in the EU – about 2.5%, instead of the planned 12%. Losses resulting from climate phenomena reach, on average, EUR 28 billion per year and continue to increase. Therefore, the EU is working on amendments aimed at increasing the flexibility of these instruments and linking support to risk mitigation measures on farms.
Greater role of preventive measures
More important are measures that mitigate the impact of crises before they occur.
– We need to prevent rather than just respond to crises. This means investments that increase the resilience of farms and mitigate risks – said Minister Stefan Krajewski.
This includes, among others, investments in water retention, the development of biosecurity and better use of data and early warning systems.
Losses after ground frost
In recent weeks, some farms have suffered serious losses in fruit crops and plantations.
– Ground frost affected fruit growers in many regions of the country. We are drawing up an application for emergency support to the European Commission – said the Minister.
In some farms, losses affect even 100% of the yield and in many others – several dozen percent. Committees in the voivodeships are estimating their exact scale.
In such situations, support must be launched quickly and resources available under the Common Agricultural Policy must be fully used.
