Tag: agri-environment schemes

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Target-compatible Environmental Payments under the CAP – Economic Requirements and Legal Scope

This guest post is contributed by Prof. Dr. Rudolf Mögele and Prof. Dr. Martin Scheele. Prof. Dr. Rudolf Mögele is Honorary Professor at the University of Würzburg; previously, he was Deputy Director General at the European Commission, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, responsible for three Directorates (Legal Affairs, Audit and Assurance and Markets). Prof. Dr. Martin Scheele is Honorary Professor at the Thaer-Institute, Humboldt University, Berlin; previously, he was Head of Unit at the European Commission, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, responsible for conception and coherence of Rural Development.

Agri-environmental payments reflecting costs incurred and income forgone

In the discussion on the CAP, more and more attention is given to the importance and functioning of environmental and climate-related payments.… Read the rest

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The development of Environmental Land Management in England: still a work in progress

We are pleased to publish this discussion of recent developments in UK (England’s) post-Brexit agricultural policy by Professor Ian Hodge of the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK. The comments here represent solely the views of the author and not of any UK government department.

Following Brexit, the UK has been developing its own approach to agricultural policy.  Agriculture is a devolved matter and so the individual nations are introducing separate policies.  In England, under the 2020 Agriculture Act, direct payments are being phased out over a seven year transition period and replaced by Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMs) under the slogan of ‘public money for public goods’. … Read the rest

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We need a British Ecosystem Services Policy not a British Agricultural Policy

We are delighted to bring you this guest post by Professor Ian Hodge of the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge on the topic of UK policy towards agricultural land after Brexit. The views expressed are his own and should not be attributed to any organisation with which he is associated.

Brexit requires the United Kingdom to develop its own policy towards agriculture and rural land to replace the Common Agricultural Policy. This must recognise the multiple benefits and costs associated with rural land use and promote the integrated management of rural land in the long term public interest through a British Ecosystem Services Policy (BESP).… Read the rest

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The CAP and biodiversity

Two weeks ago I gave a talk at a biodiversity conference organised by Teagasc, the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority. The proceedings of this conference can be downloaded here. The title for my talk was ‘Could European agricultural policy do more to promote biodiversity?‘ In today’s edition of the Irish Farming Independent I have a short article which summarizes the talk. I reproduce the article below and also the presentation accompanying the talk.
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The 2013 CAP reform had three overall objectives: viable food production; sustainable management of natural resources and climate action; and balanced territorial development.… Read the rest

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The cost of flat-rate agri-environmental measures

The Commission’s proposals to require shallow, one-size-fits-all, green measures across the EU as a whole in return for a green payment in Pillar 1 have been widely criticised as overly prescriptive, yielding limited environmental benefits (‘greenwash’), administratively complicated for member states and unnecessarily costly in terms of the trade-off with food production.

I reviewed these criticisms in a recent note for the European Parliament’s COMAGRI (link to appear when the note is published shortly). In the note I favoured a continuation of the past CAP reform trajectory in which a larger share of the CAP budget would be shifted to Pillar 2 in order to allow more ambitious and targeted agri-environmental measures (AEM).… Read the rest