ISSUE #4 ││││ p.1 ││││ May 2018

www.recap-h2020.eu

“RECAP H2020 Project”

CAP objectives

for the post-2020

reform

to foster a smart and resilient agricultural sector

to bolster environmental care and climate action and to contribute to the environmental and climate objectives of the EU

to strengthening the socio-economic fabric of rural areas

editorial

The EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is up for review, as the

current seven-year planning period for EU finances and policy

implementation ends in 2020. Last November the Commission

published a Communication on the future of food and farming,

which presents its thinking on the post-2020 CAP and this month

(May 2018), intends to present its legislative proposal together

with an impact assessment.

Environmental concerns revolve around four main issues:

biodiversity, water quality, air and soil. Control procedures remain

complex and simplification is needed, but of course not at the cost

of effectiveness. Simplification measures, such as the small

farmers’ scheme, relieving administrations and farmers of

additional burdens need to be balanced against the necessity to

achieve the objectives of environmental compliance.

Environmental objectives are mainstreamed into the CAP through

greening, cross-compliance scheme and rural development

support measures. Currently, there are recommendations to make

access to any direct payments conditional upon meeting a set of

basic environmental requirements encompassing the current

cross-compliance and greening rules.

In this issue

p.1 editorial

p.2 Environmental compliance

p.3 RECAP seeks to reduce

workload on farmers,

public authorities &

agricultural consultants

p.4 up to date

p.4 what’s new

p.4 the RECAP consortium

ISSUE #4 │ p.2

The European Commission has

launched an Action Plan to help

Member States improve the

application of EU

environmental laws.

The Action Plan sets out nine

actions to strengthen

compliance assurance

mechanisms.

In order to better ensure

compliance in rural areas

guidance will be produced to guidance will be produced to guidance will be produced to guidance will be produced to

help ensure that farmers and help ensure that farmers and help ensure that farmers and help ensure that farmers and

other land managers comply other land managers comply other land managers comply other land managers comply

with environmental rules under with environmental rules under with environmental rules under with environmental rules under

EUEUEUEU nature and water lawsnature and water lawsnature and water lawsnature and water laws.

The Common Agricultural

Policy prioritises the

sustainable management of

natural resources and climate

action through a variety of

complementary policy

instruments: cross-compliance,

the green direct payment, and

rural development support

measures.

Environmental

Compliance

in the field of the environment

to strengthen cooperation and

deliver on the envisaged

actions effectively.

The actual work on the various

actions proposed by the

Commission is starting and a

number

planned throughout 2018 and

2019.

Despite the uncertainties, the

Commission has a vision for a

revamped CAP “

CAP, we are aiming high; we

want to improve the agro

environment architecture and

we need to strengthen

between the CAP and other

policies, especially the

environment and climate

policies,” (Deputy General

Director of DG AGRI).

With these policy instruments

in place, some progress has

been made.

Cross-compliance requirements

represent the compulsory

environmental obligations to

be met by farmers to receive

full funding.

For instance, several

requirements refer to water

directly (SMR 1 on Nitrates

Directive, GAEC 1, 2 & 3 on

buffer strips to protect surface

water, groundwater pollution

and irrigation), or indirectly

(GAEC 5 on limiting erosion,

GAEC 7 on landscape features

providing ecological services, or

SMR 10 on pesticides).

The Commission adopted last

January the Communication on

EU actions to improve

environmental compliance and

governance [COM (2018) 10

and SWD (2018) 10].

On the 13th of March 2018

took place the inaugural

meeting of the Environmental

Compliance and Governance

Forum established by

Commission Decision

C(2018)10.

It brought together the

Commission services, top

national administrators and the

heads of European networks of

environmental agencies,

judges, prosecutors, police,

inspectors and auditors active

DEVELOP USE OF SATELLITESDEVELOP USE OF SATELLITESDEVELOP USE OF SATELLITESDEVELOP USE OF SATELLITES

Through the Copernicus

programme, the Commission

will promote the use of satellite

images and other geospatial data

sources to detect illegal

disposal of waste, illegal land use

and other breaches.

May 2018

in the field of the environment

to strengthen cooperation and

deliver on the envisaged

actions effectively.

The actual work on the various

actions proposed by the

Commission is starting and a

number of workshops are

planned throughout 2018 and

Despite the uncertainties, the

Commission has a vision for a

revamped CAP “For the next

CAP, we are aiming high; we

want to improve the agro-

environment architecture and

we need to strengthen the link

between the CAP and other

policies, especially the

environment and climate

,” (Deputy General

Director of DG AGRI).

DEVELOP USE OF SATELLITESDEVELOP USE OF SATELLITESDEVELOP USE OF SATELLITESDEVELOP USE OF SATELLITES

Through the Copernicus

programme, the Commission

will promote the use of satellite

images and other geospatial data

sources to detect illegal

disposal of waste, illegal land use

and other breaches.

ISSUE #4 │ p.3 May 2018

A number of challenges have risen for

the public administrations (PAs) in the

process of implementing and

controlling Cross Compliance Scheme

(CCS), mainly because of the

complexity and diversity of the

obligations and conditions that need

to be monitored.

This, results in high administrative

costs and the bureaucratic

procedures for monitoring farmers’

compliance to standards are time

consuming.

On the other hand, farmers face

particular difficulties in becoming

familiar with the standards required

for their farm, which might lead to

non-compliance and subsequent

penalisation of the farmer, who is

meanwhile dealing with the high

administrative costs of the proper

compliance to these standards.

RECAP helps build bridges between

public administrations and farmers by

utilising innovative Earth Observation

(EO) solutions and cost-efficient tools

that improve simplification and

modernization of the CAP.

RECAP is a commercial platform which

includes manual and fully automatic

hybrid EO techniques that are built

upon existing large volumes of geo-

information available to public

organisations, integrating additionally

open satellite data, and bi-directional

user-generated data from farmers.

By utilising these techniques, RECAP

enables the effective remote

monitoring of farmers’ obligations

increasing the efficiency and

transparency of public administration

procedures when implementing the

CAP.

Furthermore, PAs have continuous

access to more inspection and farm-

related details within a secure and

transparent framework, reducing the

administrative costs and paving the

way for more targeted and faster

controls in future.

RECAP also offers personalised

services to farmers for their better

compliance with the CCS and

stimulates development of new

added value services by agricultural

consultants and developers who can

create add-ons to the main platform

and make use of the data collected.

As RECAP is a user-driven solution, its

approach started by developing a

rapid appraisal methodology for the

identification of specific users’

objectives and needs; followed by

evaluation, using both quantitative

and qualitative techniques for higher

reliability and integrity. From the

project initiation, a series of

interviews with representatives from

PAs, agricultural consultants and

farmers were performed in five

countries (Greece, Spain, Lithuania,

Serbia and UK) and this procedure

helped identify variations in the

interviewees’ responses with regards

to users’ requirements.

Direct engagement of

various groups of end

users in semi-structured

interviews was also

followed in the co-creation

and co-production phases.

All involved users’ needs

were collated and used to

guide RECAP platform

development.

RECAP seeks to

reduce workload on farmers,

public authorities & agricultural

consultants

ISSUE #4 │ p.4

contact details Dr. Machi SimeonidouDr. Machi SimeonidouDr. Machi SimeonidouDr. Machi Simeonidou

Project Coordinator

DRAXIS Environmental S.A.

the RECAP consortium

up to date

G R E E C E

U N I T E D K I N G O D O M

=

L I T HU A N I A

G R E E C E

what’s new

+30 2310 274566

info@recap-h2020.eu

Horizon EuropeHorizon EuropeHorizon EuropeHorizon Europe: The preparation process for the next EU framework programme for

research and innovation (FP9) is underway. The proposal is expected to be adopted

by the European Commission before summer 2018.

Innovation RadarInnovation RadarInnovation RadarInnovation Radar: At the Digital Day 2018 in Brussels, the European Commission has

launched the Innovation Radar, a data-driven online tool which provides easy access

to innovations supported by EU funding.

Copernicus and the CAPCopernicus and the CAPCopernicus and the CAPCopernicus and the CAP: Director of Copernicus programme,

strongly defended the role of satellites in CAP’s “contro

resolution images guide a new approach of the CAP control”.

U N I T E D K I N G O D O M

G R E E C E

S E R B I A

G R E E C E

S P A I N

S P A I N

RECAP Training GuideRECAP Training GuideRECAP Training GuideRECAP Training Guide: The purpose of the Training Guide was to provide Pilot

organisations and participants with the necessary skills to install and test the RECAP

platform. It was a necessary task for the proper testing and validation of the RECAP

Platform (Pilot) in an operational environment in the five pilot countries.

RECAP holded in Athens its fifth project meetingRECAP holded in Athens its fifth project meetingRECAP holded in Athens its fifth project meetingRECAP holded in Athens its fifth project meeting: The meeting was held on the 19th

and 20th of March 2018 in Athens at the OPEKEPE premis

with an open discussion regarding the progress, challenges and needs of the project.

DRAXIS outlined the progress of “Service Integration and Customization” and the

timeline for the next period. The UNIVERSITY OF READING presented t

so far in WP “Users’ needs analysis & co-production of services” and what is left to

do. For the WP “Deployment and Operation”, based on the templates provided by

INICIATIVAS INNOVADORAS, the pilot partners [OPEKEPE, NATIONAL PAYING AGENCY

OF LITHUANIA, STRUTT & PARKER, INOSENS, INTIA] presented both, an update on the

work progress regarding the Pre-Pilot Phase and Training Activities, and an update on

the work plan and calendar of their activities regarding the Pilot Implementation.

ETAM presented the progress of the WP “Communication and Dissemination”, the

project’s output and result indicators and the performance regarding the project site

and social media.

EIPEIPEIPEIP----AGRI workshopAGRI workshopAGRI workshopAGRI workshop: RECAP was presented at the EIP

farmers for the digital age: the role of AKIS” on the 26

Latvia.

Project meetingProject meetingProject meetingProject meeting: The next project meeting will be held in Novi Sad, Serbia on July 2018.

May 2018

h2020.eu

www.recap-h2020.eu

for the next EU framework programme for

The proposal is expected to be adopted

by the European Commission before summer 2018.

: At the Digital Day 2018 in Brussels, the European Commission has

driven online tool which provides easy access

: Director of Copernicus programme, Mr. Philippe Brunet,

strongly defended the role of satellites in CAP’s “control” system, as “the high-

resolution images guide a new approach of the CAP control”.

U N I T E D K I N G O D O M

L I T HU A N I A

B E L G I U M

: The purpose of the Training Guide was to provide Pilot

organisations and participants with the necessary skills to install and test the RECAP

proper testing and validation of the RECAP

Platform (Pilot) in an operational environment in the five pilot countries.

: The meeting was held on the 19th

and 20th of March 2018 in Athens at the OPEKEPE premises. The meeting started

with an open discussion regarding the progress, challenges and needs of the project.

DRAXIS outlined the progress of “Service Integration and Customization” and the

timeline for the next period. The UNIVERSITY OF READING presented the work done

production of services” and what is left to

do. For the WP “Deployment and Operation”, based on the templates provided by

INICIATIVAS INNOVADORAS, the pilot partners [OPEKEPE, NATIONAL PAYING AGENCY

LITHUANIA, STRUTT & PARKER, INOSENS, INTIA] presented both, an update on the

Pilot Phase and Training Activities, and an update on

the work plan and calendar of their activities regarding the Pilot Implementation.

nted the progress of the WP “Communication and Dissemination”, the

output and result indicators and the performance regarding the project site

: RECAP was presented at the EIP-AGRI workshop “Enabling

the digital age: the role of AKIS” on the 26th

& 27th

of April in Jürmala,

: The next project meeting will be held in Novi Sad, Serbia on July 2018.