environmental standards, common agricultural policy, croatian farmers
Abstract
When Croatia enters the European Union (EU) in the year 2013, Croatian agriculture will be faced with the new rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period between 2014 and 2020, which aim to intensify environmental standards in agriculture. To determine how informed Croatian farmers are about the new environmental standards of the CAP, and how these environmental standards will affect their future work and business decisions, a survey was conducted on a sample of 112 Croatian farmers. The research results show that respondents believe that the adjustment of Croatian agriculture to the CAP will be demanding, as a consequence of a generally bad situation in the country, poor education of farmers and a large administrative burden imposed by the EU. Although the majority of the surveyed farmers intend to continue to engage in agriculture after accession to the EU, more than half of the respondents do not use measures which are mandatory as part of cross- compliance and which will be further extended as part of the “greening” measures in the following year. Therefore it is necessary to intensify farmers’ education and increase the use of set control measures at the national and local levels.The results are important for agricultural policy makers, as well as for numerous agencies and organizations responsible for informing farmers.
