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Accompanying ecological research on the greening of the Common Agricultural Policy
Project
Project code: TI-LR-08-PID1715
Contract period: 01.04.2015
- 30.03.2018
Purpose of research: Applied research
With the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, the European Commission decided upon a more environmental-friendly, “greener” first pillar. The effectiveness of the greening measures for nature conservation and environmental protection, however, is discussed controversially. In various projects we therefore pursue the question of the effectiveness.
Significant species decline in agricultural landscapes, continuing high nutrient inputs in soils and waters as well as European and global stipulations for biodiversity protection require an agriculture that focuses more on ecological aspects. To address these needs the European Commission introduced a “greening” through the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that should strengthen the ecological sustainability of agriculture. Since 1 January 2015, a part of the direct payments of the first pillar is linked to farming practices promoting climate and environmental protection with three measures:
- Crop diversification: Most farms with more than 30ha arable land have to cultivate at least three crops. The major crop must not exceed 75% of the area and the share of the other two crops must cover at least 5% of area each. Farms with 10 to 30ha arable land must cultivate at least two crops, whereas the major crop must not cover more than 75% of the area.
- Preservation of permanent grassland: Permanent grassland reported as a flora-fauna habitat (FFH) area is labeled as environmentally sensitive grassland and is subject to a prohibition of conversion and ploughing. Permanent grassland that is not declared as environmentally sensitive can be converted exclusively with authorization. Normally, an authorization is only given when permanent grassland is newly established to the same extent at another place in the same region and when the share of permanent grassland of the region declined by no more than 5% between 2012 and 2015.
- Declaration of ecological focus areas on arable land: Farms with more than 15ha arable land must declare 5% of their cropland as an ecological focus area. Different EFA types can be chosen, some of them allowing agricultural usage (e.g., short rotation coppice, catch crops) and some do not (e.g., fallow land, landscape elements).
Under certain conditions farms are excluded from greening, for example organic farms. Currently, there is a controversial discussion on the ecological effectiveness of EFA. It is also disputed whether the high administration and monitoring effort of those measures is proportionate. A mid-term evaluation of the European Commission in 2017 should give information on the effectiveness of the measures on the preservation of biological diversity as well as the protection of water, climate and soil. Based on the mid-term evaluation, changes in the greening policy are possible from 2018 onwards.
At the Thünen Institute of Rural Studies, there are several projects dealing with the effects of the greening on nature protection (see Links and Downloads). Their results should be used to generate practical recommendations for the evaluation of the CAP reform in 2017.
In the projects we especially analyze operational data from the federal states to find out more about the selection, implementation and ecological effects of the greening measures. The different focuses of the projects cover all three fields of the greening measures, supporting a greater contribution to ecology through agriculture in the future.
Section overview
Subjects
- Crop Production
- Grassland
- Agroecology
