Support for information measures relating to the common agricultural policy (IMCAP)

The target public for the themes is the general public (in particular young people in urban areas) and/or farmers and other stakeholders active in rural areas and the agricultural sector.

More specifically:

• For young people in urban areas, school children, teachers and university students: new approaches should be used to engage with young people and raise their awareness of the new CAP and the contribution that it makes in many areas such as the climate change challenge, food, healthy and high quality eating as a lifestyle choice, in relation also with the EU School Scheme for Milk, Fruit and Vegetables and the Tartu Call.
• For stakeholders: stakeholders should be more aware of the contribution that the CAP makes to support the social, environmental and economic sustainability of agriculture.

The projects must use objective and measurable impact indicators for their proposed objectives and activities that will be assessed by an impact evaluation methodology. These indicators should include inter alia:

• the baseline (i.e. a description of the current levels of awareness and perception of the CAP amongst the targeted audience). This could be based on Special Eurobarometer 520 data or other objective and credible data sources that define the levels of awareness and perception about the CAP in a particular target audience
• the total number of contacts expected to be made during the communication and information activities, and
• the targeted increase in the total number of contacts who recognise and/or have a more positive opinion of the CAP as a result of the information and communication activities (in relation to the baseline).

The general objective of the call is to inform citizens, farmers and non-farmers alike and to promote information about the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), including the national CAP Strategic Plans (i.e. the policy and its benefits for the citizens of the EU).

The proposals submitted should provide coherent, objective and comprehensive information measures, reaching a significant number of citizens in the EU, providing them with a factual, accurate and well documented overall picture of the benefits of the CAP for citizens, EU agriculture and the environment.

The key issues and messaging should be fully consistent with Article 46 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116.

The focus of the large-scale information and communication measures should be on addressing misperceptions and disinformation about European agriculture and the CAP, using facts and backed up with data with a view to raising public awareness on the relevance of EU support to agriculture and rural development through the CAP.

The projects must clearly explain how they will contribute to raising public awareness and improving the perception of the CAP among citizens.

The CAP plays a key role in supporting the EU’s farming sector and rural areas. It aims to ensure a sustainable agriculture with respect to economic, social and environmental aspects. In the framework of the European Green Deal, the Commission adopted a Farm to fork strategy, a Biodiversity strategy and the Organic action plan, all of which address issues relevant to agriculture and rural areas.

The Farm to fork strategy will enable the transition to a more sustainable EU food system that safeguards food security, reduces the environmental and climate footprint of the EU food system and strengthens its resilience, protecting citizens' health and ensuring the livelihoods of economic operators.

The Biodiversity strategy as it relates to farming promotes the uptake of agro-ecological practices and seeks to increase agricultural land dedicated to organic farming. By producing high quality food with low environmental impact, organic farming will play an essential role in developing a sustainable food system for the EU. The Action Plan for the development of organic production aims to boost the production and consumption of organic products, to reach 25% of agricultural land under organic farming by 2030, as well as to increase organic aquaculture significantly.

The CAP is an important instrument in managing the transition to sustainable food production systems and in strengthening the efforts of European farmers to contribute to the climate objectives of the EU and to protect the environment, as well as reaching the targets set out in the European Green Deal.

Activities that can be funded:

This call targets large-audience information and communication measures to inform citizens about the CAP (including the national CAP strategic plans).

The information measures must include one or several activities reaching a significant number of citizens, such as:

• production and distribution/broadcast of print, multimedia or audio-visual material
• web and social media outreach activities that reach a significant number of citizens
• media events
• conferences, seminars, workshops that reach a significant number of citizens
• studies on CAP-related issues (if required to support the implementation of the information measures).

The following activities are NOT eligible:

• measures required by law
• general or statutory meetings
• other activities where the communication and information measures are not the main component.

In case of previous co-financed campaigns, projects must describe their past impact and explain clearly and in details the novelty in the proposed activities for this call.