CAP is a socio-professional agricultural organization that brings together more than three hundred organizations, including federations, wineries, regional associations (corresponding to Portugal's main agricultural areas), specialized associations by technical sector, and cooperatives. It maintains constant contact with all its affiliates through regional, national, and plenary meetings, listening to the problems and needs of national agriculture and forwarding them for technical analysis, specialized studies, or strategies to be adopted. CAP's objectives are to defend the interests of Portuguese agriculture in Portugal and abroad, always safeguarding the economic component of the activity, in defense of a dignified and quality life for all farmers who wish to continue their activity.

Works to alert and engage the government in the implementation of essential infrastructure, advocating an agricultural policy that respects Portugal's integration into the European Union and healthy and proper participation in the single market. Since Portugal joined the European Union in 1986, CAP has represented Portugal at the European Commission in Brussels (where it has established a permanent delegation) and participated in all Agricultural Committees and the Economic and Social Council.

CAP was aware that these responsibilities could only be fulfilled on an equal footing with other Member States if it was able to guarantee the establishment of a strong technical department and the participation and commitment of specialists in agricultural economics. As a representative of agricultural socio-professional associations, CAP is recognized by the various governments of Portugal as a social partner in the Economic and Social Council - Permanent Commission for Social Consultation, bodies for debate and analysis between the government, trade unions, and employers on the most important decisions in economic and social policy.

At international level, CAP is represented in COPA (Committee of Professional Agricultural Organizations), GEOPA (Group of Employers of Professional Agricultural Organizations), USSE (Union of Southern European Foresters), CEPF (European Confederation of Forest Owners), FIPA (International Federation of Agricultural Producers), CESE (European Economic and Social Committee), and the European Commission through its agricultural advisory groups at the Directorate-General for Agriculture and the Advisory Committees on Social Policy and Vocational Training at the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs, and Industrial Relations. Among the various specialized technical services provided by CAP to farmers, vocational training stands out, for which it already has three Agricultural Training Centers; and direct aid to farms, for which it has established a network of 15 Rural Information Centers covering the entire country. The headquarters of the Confederation of Portuguese Farmers is located in Lisbon, but both its regional and specialized affiliates and the Rural Information Centers ensure the decentralization and dissemination of services, both on the mainland and in the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores. The internal structure of the CAP is based on the decisions of the General Assembly, which elects a ten-member Plenary Board and a seven-member Executive Board (chair and six vice-chairs).