New guidelines to effectively assess the impact of CAP income support interventions on farm income
A Thematic Working Group that involved CAP academic experts for ten months has developed a mix of methods and indicators to support Member States in the assessment of CAP income support.
What is farm income and how is it affected? What is the influence of CAP income support on farm income level, volatility and distribution? What are the CAP interventions with the highest efficiency in supporting farm income? These questions can be interesting for Member States to consider when they evaluate their CAP Strategic Plans. However, answering these questions requires specific knowledge of the existing approaches and tools to analyse the effects achieved by CAP income support interventions.
The guidelines, prepared by the a Thematic Working Group, notably recommend calculating the Income Transfer Efficiency of CAP income support interventions because it examines to which extent the support was effectively transferred into additional income for the beneficiaries.
It was challenging but we are extremely satisfied with the outcome. We managed to gather and present in the guidelines both simpler and more advanced approaches, which Member States can apply. The objective was to offer practical, easy-to-understand guidance for non-experts while incorporating more technical content for Managing Authorities and evaluators willing to improve their knowledge and skills.
The guidelines address various CAP income support interventions, such as basic income support for sustainability (BISS), complementary redistributive income support for sustainability (CRISS), coupled income support (CIS), direct support provided to areas facing natural or other area-specific constraints (ANC) and areas with specific disadvantages (ASD), and complementary income support for young farmers (CIS-YF). Together, they offer a comprehensive evaluation framework for assessing CAP income support interventions.
The document is structured to guide the reader through the different evaluation steps and aspects to investigate. For each sub-topic - income level, volatility and distribution, the guidelines recommended judgment criteria and relevant indicators, provided technical guidance for carrying out quantitative analyses, as well as hands-on examples of how to interpret findings.
By simulating scenarios with and without CAP support and utilising data from sources like FADN, Member States can effectively assess the net impact of CAP income support interventions on farm income during the 2023-2027 CAP programming period.
Read the guidelines 'Assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of CAP income support instruments'.