Report on the implementation of the ecological focus area obligation under the green direct payment scheme

The 2013 reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) introduced a green direct payment scheme (‘greening’). The aim was to further improve sustainable management of natural resources linked to farming through payments for practices beneficial to the environment and the climate. Besides crop diversification and the maintenance of permanent grassland, greening requires farmers to reserve 5% of their arable land for ecological focus areas (EFAs).

Focusing on 2015 and 2016, this report fulfils a legal requirement for the Commission to examine progress in implementing the EFA obligation. While it also shares preliminary observations on EFAs’ potential environmental effects based on choices made by Member States and farmers, it is important to stress that this is not a measurement of real environmental impacts.

The report updates and expands on some aspects of the 2016 review of greening after one year of application, conducted as part of the Commission’s REFIT programme. The 2016 review examined greening’s impact on production potential, the level playing field and considered various simplification aspects. As a follow-up, the Commission put forward several changes to secondary greening legislation, focusing mostly on EFAs. These aimed to streamline and clarify the relevant rules while increasing their environmental effect. They should become applicable at the latest in 2018 (as of March 2017 the changes are not yet in force).

This report will contribute to the wider evaluation of greening, including the environmental benefits of EFAs, due for completion by the end of 2017 or early 2018. It will also feed into the report on the CAP monitoring and evaluation due in 2018. The observations in Chapter 3 of this report do not prejudge the evaluation of greening, which will be comprehensive on all its aspects, including EFAs.