Richest farmers benefit from CAP funding

An approximate 80:20 Pareto rule continues to apply to the funding of EU farmers from the CAP. Roughly 82 per cent of CAP farms receiving direct payments in 2006 received less than €5000 whilst just 23,000 of the 7.33 million farms claiming aid received more than €100,000.

The Czech Republic heads the proportion of farms receiving more than €100,000 at 3.5 per cent followed by the UK with 2.9 per cent and Slovakia with 1.9 per cent. In total 84.5% of CAP funds went to just 17.9 per cent of farms.