A report on the survey and analysis results of major countries agricultural information conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in FY2024, providing detailed analysis of agricultural policies and systems in European regions and the United States.
For the European region, the report analyzes the detailed content of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) that came into effect in 2024, explaining the requirements imposed on business operators to achieve a weight reduction of 30% or more in packaging materials and a ratio of 50% or more for reusable packaging materials by 2030. Requirements imposed on member states indicate that by 2030, 85% or more of plastic packaging waste must be collected and a recycling rate of 55% or more must be achieved.
Regarding the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the CAP Strategic Plans for 2023-2027 are being implemented in each member state, with Germany allocating 1.28 billion euros annually for biodiversity conservation support, France allocating 320 million euros annually for organic farming transition support, and the Netherlands allocating 210 million euros annually for nitrogen emission reduction measures.
For Swiss agricultural policy, a new direct payment system was introduced from 2022, providing a total of 2.8 billion Swiss francs (approximately 336 billion yen) annually to farmers across eight categories including production condition payments, biodiversity payments, and landscape quality payments. Regarding pesticide usage, the target is a 25% reduction compared to 2017 levels by 2027, with an 18% reduction achieved as of 2023.
In the United States, regarding the implementation status of the 2018 Farm Bill, approximately 14 billion dollars is invested annually in the crop insurance program, approximately 1.8 billion dollars in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and approximately 2 billion dollars in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). In discussions for the next 2024 Farm Bill, new budget allocation of approximately 20 billion dollars annually for climate change measures is being discussed, and in the biotechnology field, deregulation of gene editing technology is planned to shorten the commercialization approval period from the conventional three years to one year.
The article concludes that agricultural policies in each country are undergoing major transitions toward emphasizing environmental considerations and sustainability, providing important reference information for Japan's agricultural policy formulation.