A limited approach to good farming

Date: 23/03/06

Better targeting of farm spending is needed to ensure the EU's commitments on nature protection are honoured, according to the head of the European Environment Agency (EEA).

The EU's spending on so-called agri-environment measures rose from less than EUR 50 million in 1993 to more than EUR 2 billion in 2003. Among the objectives of the schemes financed are the reduction of chemical use, promoting organic farming and, in some regions, conserving water and tackling soil erosion.

But a new study by the EEA indicates that the rates of uptake vary widely in the 15 older EU member states. More than three-quarters of the agricultural area in use in Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden and Austria is covered by agri-environment management contracts, according to the latest available data. The proportion falls below 10%, though, in Spain, Greece and the Netherlands.

Jacqueline McGlade, the EEA's director, believes that the wide discrepancies could be the result of insufficient attention being paid to environmental concerns when some national authorities plan how to use EU subsidies. "If a scattergun approach is taken, then one doesn't see how the overall approach to agri-environment measures will pay off," she said.

The EEA report says that the policy on encouraging 'good farming practice' is too limited in most of the 15 countries examined. Questions of biodiversity and landscape protection are not covered by national codes on good farming in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. Water use has not been addressed by Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Sweden and the UK.

McGlade insisted, too, that ecological issues ought to feature more prominently in discussions about the EU's spending plans for 2007-13 than they have so far. "There is a significant case to be made that part of the EU's budget should be ring-fenced for agri-environment measures," she said, suggesting that EUR 6bn should be set aside for that purpose each year.

The question of responsible farming is especially relevant for preserving biodiversity, given that farming practices such as hay-making or non-intensive sheep grazing are regarded as crucial elements in preserving the natural habitats of many creatures. About 2% of the EU15's territory consists of such farmland habitats. Within the Natura 2000 network of designated areas of ecological protection, the proportion rises to 17%.

More than 90% of all butterflies, for example, depend on farmland habitats. But the EEA says that their "conservation status is generally negative" in the 15 states.

McGlade also lamented the patchiness of data about the impact of environmental protection activities financed under the Common Agricultural Policy. Greater resources have to be devoted to improving statistics, she says.

"Along with every policy, there is an obligation to show it is effective," she added. "We can't do that without monitoring."

Dominique de Jonckheere from the Committee of Agricultural Organisations in the EU (COPA) said that the farm reform package approved by EU governments in 2003 contained "many good provisions to make sure we have environmental protection".

It would be premature to say if its objectives had been met, she said, given that the Commission was not scheduled to carry out the next farm policy review until 2008.

Comments by Jacqueline McGlade, head of the European Environment Agency (EEA), who said that better targeting of farm spending was needed to ensure the EU's commitments on nature protection were honoured.
Article is part of a European Voice Special Report, 'Sustainable Development'.

• Primary Source

European Commission:DG Agriculture: Agriculture and Environment http://ec.europa.eu/comm/agriculture/envir/index_en.htm

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