Cross-compliance under the Common Agricultural Policy

Book abstract:

Cross compliance is the process by which environmental conditions are attached to farmers' support payments in order to improve their environmental performance. Following the Agenda 2000 reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) agreed in March 1999, this approach has been given new emphasis, with EU Member States acquiring powers to attach appropriate environmental conditions to a range of CAP payments to farmers. This report provides a detailed analysis of the key issues which arise in applying this policy and identifies possible options for the government to consider in the UK.

Commissioned by the Department of the Environmental, Transport and the Regions (DETR), this report produced by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) explains the concept of cross-compliance and the current policy context. It summarises responses by different EU countries to the new CAP legislation and examines views from a wide range of farming and countryside organisations in the UK. It analyses cross-compliance as a means of addressing concerns such as the protection of water, soil and air, landscape changes and the conservation of wildlife. A total of thirty different options are identified and evaluated for their effectiveness and practicality with five key measures examined in more detail. These include Codes of Good Agricultural Practice, a requirement to prepare a farm plan and conditions related to habitats and landscape features.

The authors conclude that there are options worth considering for new cross-compliance conditions in the UK, as well as retaining measures concerned with over grazing and set-aside. They indicate that workable options must produce real environmental benefits, be feasible for farmers, and able to be implemented, monitored and policed without imposing unreasonable costs.