European Commission recommends these eco-schemes

Eco-regulations. It remains a relatively unclear concept in the new Common Agricultural Policy. It is clear that agricultural entrepreneurs can achieve a higher premium with this and that each country is allowed to draw up regulations independently. However, the exact interpretation remains complicated. That is why the European Commission has published a number of examples.

"The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is going to look more specifically at sustainability. This is done through so-called eco-schemes," said Aard Mulders of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. earlier† All member states in the European Union are obliged to apply this regulation, but are allowed to implement it themselves. However, this turns out to be more complicated than expected, resulting in a great deal of uncertainty among agricultural entrepreneurs.

The European Commission has meanwhile given a first step with a number of examples. For example, the Commission states that the eco-schemes must in any case meet the following conditions:

• It must cover an activity related to the climate, the environment, animal welfare and/or antimicrobial resistance.
• Eco-schemes should be described on the basis of regional or national needs.
• The level of ambition of the member states must go beyond the requirements that already apply in a country.
• These eco-schemes should also contribute to the achievement of objectives from the Green Deal† This states, among other things, that the use of chemical crop protection products must be reduced by 50% and that 25% of agricultural land in the European Union must be organic.

One step more concrete
The above points are still very broad. That is why the European Commission states that eco-schemes are assessed on the basis of 7 points: limiting climate change (reducing greenhouse gases), adapting to climate change (stronger resistance to diseases), improving water quality, preventing soil degradation, protecting the biodiversity, less chemical crop protection, improving animal welfare. The more points an eco-scheme scores, the faster it will be approved by the European Commission.

To make things a little more concrete, the European Commission is proposing, for example, to encourage organic farming or to reward mechanical weed control and buffer strips through an eco-scheme. Flowery field margins, the use of permanent grassland and the reduction of fertilizer are also on the European Commission's list. Although it is still unclear which options The Hague will choose politically, the Commission's list does provide a somewhat clearer picture of what can be considered with regard to the eco-schemes.

All examples can be found here.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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