scholarly journals Shades of Greening: Reviewing the Impact of the new EU Agricultural Policy on Ecosystem Services

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hauck ◽  
Christian Schleyer ◽  
Klara J. Winkler ◽  
Joachim Maes
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
Crop Diversification ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Ecological Focus Areas ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

AbstractIn December 2013, the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council formally adopted the new regulations for the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (2014-2020). The new regulations include three obligatory greening measures: ecological focus areas, maintaining permanent grassland, and crop diversification. We assess the impact of these measures on ecosystem services using scientific and gray literature. The literature review reveals that the adopted greening measures will have mixed effects, i.e., trade-offs and synergies across ecosystems services. Provisioning services, in particular crop production, are expected to decrease when the measures are implemented. All other service categories, i.e., regulating and cultural services, will increase – or are at least will not obviously be negatively affected – once the measures are implemented. However, in terms of tradeoffs and synergies, much depends on objectives being pursued, the baseline or alternative land use underlying the comparison, and on the prevalent farming systems and farm characteristics. Including the ecosystem services concept into the design and assessment of policies would allow a systematic review of the consequences of measures also for services otherwise easily ignored.

Micro and Macro-level Analysis of Crop Diversification: Evidence from an Agrarian State West Bengal

2020 ◽  
pp. 489-499
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Structure Questionnaire ◽  
Crop Diversification ◽  
The Status ◽  
Block Level ◽  
Diversified Farming Systems

The farming system in West Bengal is being shifted by integration between the set of cash crops and the main food harvest process. This change in diversified farming systems, where smallholders have a production base in rice can complement production; affect technical efficiency and farm performance. The goal of this study was to investigate the status of crop diversification on smallholders in West Bengal. First, crop diversification regions were developed in West Bengal based on the Herfindahl index, which were categorized into three regions. Three sample districts were studied separately at the block level, and 915 small farmers from 41 sample villages of 9 sample blocks were interviewed through a good structure questionnaire for field studies from the sample districts. West Bengal was gradually moving towards multiple crop production. Furthermore, increasing rice production reduced the marginal use of inputs for the production of other crops. Farming and other vital factors such as HYVs area to GCA, average holding size and per capita income in some districts of West Bengal can be identified as determinants of crop diversification.

scholarly journals The Role of Selected Ecosystem Services in Different Farming Systems in Poland Regarding the Differentiation of Agricultural Land Structure

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6673
Author(s):  
Lidia Luty ◽  
Kamila Musiał ◽  
Monika Zioło
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Soil Formation ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Organic System ◽  
Supporting Soil ◽  
Management Method ◽  
The Impact

The functioning of various agroecosystems is nowadays shaped by different farming systems, which may impair their functions, as well as being beneficial to them. The benefits include ecosystem services, defined as economic and noneconomic values gained by humans from ecosystems, through supporting soil formation and nutrient circulation, and the impact of agriculture on climate and biodiversity. Their mutual flow and various disturbances depend on the agroecosystem’s management method, which is associated with the type of management of agricultural land (AL) in individual farms. This paper raises a problem of transformation in the structure of three main farming systems in Poland, in 2004–2018, in relation to the implementation of 16 selected ecosystem services and their scale. Special attention was given to organic farming, as the most environmentally friendly and sustainable. The analysis demonstrates the increase in ALs in that type of production during the analyzed period of time. Disparities of transformation associated with the type of agricultural system were noticeable at the regional level, which were presented in 16 Polish voivodeships. The results of the analysis confirm that the organic system, which is an important carrier of various ecosystem services, gained a stable position. Moreover, areas with integrated farming still do not exceed 0.5% of total agricultural lands in such voivodeships. The analysis of factors influencing the deterioration or disappearance of selected environmental services characterizing agricultural systems indicates the need to depart from an intensive conventional management system.

Die europäische Agrarpolitik vor dem Hintergrund der Osterweiterung

2003 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reimar von Alvensleben ◽  
Bernhard Brümmer ◽  
Ulrich Koester ◽  
Klaus Frohberg
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Consumer Welfare ◽  
World Market ◽  
Market Mechanism ◽  
Niche Markets ◽  
Member States ◽  
Regional Food ◽  
Direct Payments ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

AbstractReimar von Alvensleben asks in his article whether the “Agrarwende” in Germany could be a model for Europe. He argues that the new agricultural policy (the so-called “Agrarwende”), which has been proclaimed and implemented after the German BSE crisis 2000/2001, adds new problems to the already existing problems of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The strategy of improving international competitiveness of German agriculture by promoting the niche markets for organic food, animal-friendly produced food and regional food is unrealistic and thus neglecting the problem of improving the competitiveness of 85−90% of German agriculture. The criterion of ecological efficiency (How to achieve ecological goals at lowest costs?) is totally neglected in agricultural environmental policy. The strategy of implementing environmental and animal welfare standards by the market mechanism will not lead to reasonable results because of perception distortions of the consumers. As a consequence of distorted perception of food risks by politicians, cost of risk prevention are too high and/or safety and health standards in other less spectaculous areas are too low. For these reasons he concludes that the “Agrarwende” in Germany cannot be regarded as a model for Europe, especially not for Eastern Europe.Bernhard Brümmer and Ulrich Koester write in their paper that the Eastern Enlargement of the EU will have significant implications for governance of the CAP. The evolution of the CAP has led to a permanent increase in the intensity of regulation, although the rate of external protection has declined. Past experience - mainly revealed by the European Court of Auditors - has evidenced many irregularities and even fraud as a by-product of the CAP. Governance problems are due to badly designed policies, which demand control of even individual farms and give the member countries, administrative regions (which are supposed to implement the policies on the local scale) and the individual farms themselves incentives to breach the rules. In their view governance problems will certainly increase in the enlarged EU. The new member countries have a weaker administrative capacity and are subject to more corruption than the present EU countries. Adequate policy reaction should lead to fundamental changes of the CAP.Klaus Frohberg argues that in its Mid Term Review the EU-commission proposes a change in the most important instruments of the CAP. Direct payments and intervention prices belong to this group. In his paper the impact of these changes is discussed. Direct payments shall become decoupled from production and be summarised into a single payment to farmers. In addition, the right of these transfers shall be made tradable independent of a simultaneous exchange of land. With regard to the intervention prices they shall be reduced as to approach world market levels. Assuming that the Member States will confirm the proposals the CAP is expected to improve considerably. Allocation and transfer efficiency will increase, consumer welfare will go slightly up, taxpayers will be little if at all affected and the EU can defend its position in the negotiations of the ongoing WTO round. These advantages accrue to the current as well as to the new Member States. In spite of the improvements the CAP still needs to be enhanced in some areas such as the market organisation of sugar and milk.

Disappearing peasants?

Focaal ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2008 (52) ◽  
pp. 77-91
Author(s):  
Cerasela Voiculescu
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Rural Landscape ◽  
New Class ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Socialism And Postsocialism

This article explores the recent transformations of the Romanian peasantry and critically discusses interpretations of these changes as either indicating the persistence or the disappearance of peasants in Romania. It shows that beyond the labels of depeasantization and repeasantization, which are extensively used to describe rural scenarios under socialism and postsocialism, it is important to take analytic account of the more complex social relations between different actors that are developing under the impact of interacting local and global processes. Given the sharp differences between peasants and the new class of agricultural rentiers, as well as the variations within the latter group, the different rent regimes in which peasants negotiate their control over land and subsistence involve complex relationships and statuses. The article concludes by hypothesizing possible ways in which all of these relationships could be transformed in the long run in the new context of the EU agricultural policy and by discussing two possible scenarios for the Romanian rural landscape, namely, those of peripheral and nonperipheral capitalism.

scholarly journals Agricultural diversification promotes multiple ecosystem services without compromising yield

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (45) ◽  
pp. eaba1715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Tamburini ◽  
Riccardo Bommarco ◽  
Thomas Cherico Wanger ◽  
Claire Kremen ◽  
Marcel G. A. van der Heijden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Nutrient Cycling ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Pest Control ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Water Regulation ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

Enhancing biodiversity in cropping systems is suggested to promote ecosystem services, thereby reducing dependency on agronomic inputs while maintaining high crop yields. We assess the impact of several diversification practices in cropping systems on above- and belowground biodiversity and ecosystem services by reviewing 98 meta-analyses and performing a second-order meta-analysis based on 5160 original studies comprising 41,946 comparisons between diversified and simplified practices. Overall, diversification enhances biodiversity, pollination, pest control, nutrient cycling, soil fertility, and water regulation without compromising crop yields. Practices targeting aboveground biodiversity boosted pest control and water regulation, while those targeting belowground biodiversity enhanced nutrient cycling, soil fertility, and water regulation. Most often, diversification practices resulted in win-win support of services and crop yields. Variability in responses and occurrence of trade-offs highlight the context dependency of outcomes. Widespread adoption of diversification practices shows promise to contribute to biodiversity conservation and food security from local to global scales.

Agriculture, the EC and the WTO: A Legal Critical Analysis of the Concepts of Sustainability and Multifunctionality

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 144-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Cardwell
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
World Trade Organisation ◽  
Environmental Agreements ◽  
Agricultural Policies ◽  
Multilateral Environmental Agreements ◽  
The Common ◽  
Brundtland Commission ◽  
Rural Policy ◽  
The Eu

The agricultural policies of the Member States of the EC have for many years now been controlled from Brussels under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In recent years the CAP has, together with other policies of the EC, been refocused from crop production support to a European rural policy, with the term ‘sustainability’ being written into many policy documents. This term has achieved international recognition and the definition used by the Brundtland Commission has been widely accepted, as evidenced by its use in OECD documentation. While the term ‘sustainability’ has been written into World Trade Organisation (WTO) texts, the robustness of the term is questionable. The question then arises as to the legal interaction of WTO texts and multilateral environmental agreements, which do have ‘sustainability’ as their core philosophy. A new term has entered the regional and global debate in the policy area of agriculture, that of ‘multifunctionality’. The EC is increasingly defining agriculture as being multifunctional. This term has yet to be clearly defined at EC level, although the OECD has done some work in this area. How the millennium round of WTO negotiations reacts to the term ‘multifunctionality’ will have an important impact on the EC's CAP. This paper examines the issues of sustainability and multifunctionality, with particular reference to the agricultural policies of the EU and WTO, and their interaction.

The impact of secondary forest restoration on multiple ecosystem services and their trade-offs

2019 ◽  
Vol 104 ◽  
pp. 248-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yelin Zeng ◽  
Mengmeng Gou ◽  
Shuai Ouyang ◽  
Liang Chen ◽  
Xi Fang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Restoration ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals The impact of climate change on European agricultural policy

European View ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Raising Awareness ◽  
Combat Climate Change ◽  
Warming World ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Principal Contributor ◽  
The Eu

Agriculture in the context of climate change is often a provocative subject because agriculture is both heavily impacted by the warming world and also a principal contributor to climate change. As efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions increase, the EU is pushing all sectors to integrate measures to combat climate change. This article argues that the agricultural sector has instigated a process of integrating climate concerns. However, these efforts will not lead to a large number of disruptive changes in the agricultural sector. While the EU is putting climate change firmly on the agricultural agenda, ranking the issue even higher than the environment, the Union’s primary goal is still to support the income of farmers. Hence, the EU’s intentions will likely lead to raising awareness of the issue of climate change in the context of agriculture but will not lead to any transformative changes in European agricultural policymaking.

Trade-offs and Synergies of Ecosystem Services in Karst Area of China Driven by Grain-for-Green Program

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Wang
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Karst Area ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Grain For Green ◽  
Grain For Green Program ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

<p>As an important means regulating the relationship between human and natural ecosystem, ecological restoration program plays a key role in restoring ecosystem functions. The Grain-for-Green Program (GFGP, One of the world’s most ambitious ecosystem conservation set-aside programs aims to transfer farmland on steep slopes to forestland or grassland to increase vegetation coverage) has been widely implemented from 1999 to 2015 and exerted significant influence on land use and ecosystem services (ESs). In this study, three ecological models (InVEST, RUSLE, and CASA) were used to accurately calculate the three key types of ESs, water yield (WY), soil conservation (SC), and net primary production (NPP) in Karst area of southwestern China from 1982 to 2015. The impact of GFGP on ESs and trade-offs was analyzed. It provides practical guidance in carrying out ecological regulation in Karst area of China under global climate change. Results showed that ESs and trade-offs had changed dramatically driven by GFGP . In detail, temporally, SC and NPP exhibited an increasing trend, while WY exhibited a decreasing trend. Spatially, SC basically decreased from west to east; NPP basically increased from north to south; WY basically increased from west to east; NPP and SC, SC and WY developed in the direction of trade-offs driven by the GFGP, while NPP and WY developed in the direction of synergy. Therefore, future ecosystem management and restoration policy-making should consider trade-offs of ESs so as to achieve sustainable provision of ESs.</p>

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