A survey has revealed that 33% of farmers spend more than six days every year on administrative tasks linked to applications for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Carried out by the European Commission, the survey was designed for farmers to identify the administrative burden and complexity stemming from CAP rules.

It found that 24% of farmers spend five to six days on CAP-related paperwork, while 38% of participating farmers spend one to four working days.

A very large share of farmers applying for CAP support (78%) also use some type of outside help to prepare and submit their CAP aid application, according to the results.

Inspections

Regarding on-farm inspections in the last three years, 36% of farms covered in the survey were visited once, while 16% of farms received at least three visits. These visits may also include inspections not related to the CAP.

Preparing and following up on these on-site checks required between half a day and one day of work for 63% of farmers checked.

Geo-tagged images

Half of the respondents applying for CAP support are not using mobile devices to provide geo-tagged photos to the authorities, it found.

Out of the 50% using mobile devices for this purpose, about half have issues with it, in particular because they find it time consuming, not easy to use or lack feedback on the accuracy of the picture provided.

Respondents

Among those who responded, 81% were farmers applying for CAP support, while the rest of respondents were farmers not applying for CAP support (16%) or farm advisers.

Just over 35% of farmers replying were between 50 and 64 years old and 48% between 30 and 49 years old.

Very small farms of less than 5ha were represented by 10% of the respondents, while 39% are working on farms from 5ha to 50ha.

The types of production most represented were cereals and other field crops, followed by beef and dairy, wine and olive oil.

The average farm size in the European Union is 17.4ha.