Food Systems Podcast 97

Interview with Ricard Ramon

Wednesday, Jun 10, 2026

Recorded at the recent Forum for the Future of Agriculture Regional event in Dublin, Rose O’Donovan interviewed Ricard Ramon, Head of Unit for Policy Perspectives at DG AGRI. Rose returned to the future CAP with an interview with Ricard Ramon, Head of Unit for Policy Perspectives at DG AGRI, about the current state of the negotiations.

Joining online, Mr Ramon said a minimum CAP budget of around 300 billion euros is established to 2034, with significant additional resources available: a requirement that 10% of unallocated funds be spent in rural areas, worth around 48 billion euros, and a further 45 billion euros could be moved to agriculture if spent early in the period. “It’s very important to say that we continue to put a big focus on support for farmers’ incomes.”

On the contested question of targeting payments to those who need them most versus those who deserve them most, Mr Ramon argued the distinction was partly one of vocabulary – the key was matching the right type of support to the right need, whether direct payments, investment, technology or risk management. On young farmers, he confirmed a strengthened package including a starter kit of measures and a higher per-hectare top-up. On the overall timeline, the goal is an MFF deal among EU leaders before the end of 2026, which he believed was achievable.

Ricard Ramon I Sumoy

Ricard Ramon is the Head of Unit in charge of policy perspectives at DG AGRI (European Commission)....see more He is currently working on the CAP for the period post-2027, the new Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) as well as the future Farmland Observatory and the on-farm sustainability compass. For the last 25 years he worked on strategy, analysis, design and implementation of agricultural policy in the EU. He has been directly involved on the policy design and negotiations of the last three reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as well as the preparation and approval of the current CAP Strategic Plans for the period 2022-2027. More recently, he was part of task force which supported the works of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture (2024) and coordinated the works on the Vision for Agriculture and Food (2025), which defines the strategic roadmap for the future actions of the Commission for the years ahead. He studied at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the London School of Economics.

Rose O’Donovan

Rose O’Donovan has been Editor of AGRA FACTS since March 2010, having previously served as Deputy Editor on the...see more agricultural publication for nearly three years. Prior to working as a journalist, she dealt with international relations on the EU satellite navigation programme at the Galileo Joint Undertaking. Following the completion of a Master of Science at University College Cork (Ireland), Rose moved to Brussels in 2004 to work as an intern in the Cabinet of former European Parliament President, Pat Cox. Hailing from a farming background in West Cork, Rose is also the Brussels correspondent for The Southern Star - a regional newspaper based in Skibbereen. More information Twitter – @agrafacts LinkedIn - rose-o-donovan-91927517

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