Abstract
Crop diversity has an important role in sustainable agroecosystems. This study analyzed the crop diversity of agricultural holdings in particular regions (NUTS III) in Slovakia and identified the impact of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments on the crop diversity of agricultural holdings. There are regional disparities in crop diversity in Slovakia. The highest crop diversity is typical for the regions with the best soil quality. From the results of econometric models, it was found that some of the CAP payments have an effect on crop diversity, mainly single area payment scheme (SAPS) payments, which had a negative effect, and payments for areas facing natural constraints (ANC) and animal welfare, which were found to have positive effects. It can be concluded that the second pillar of the CAP is able to improve or at least maintain crop diversity in Slovakia. Other important factors found to influence crop diversity are irrigation, total crop area corresponding with the farm size, geographical location including the soil quality, and the legal structure of agricultural holdings. However, the distance of the farm from the city, the education of managers, and membership in farmers’ associations are not important factors for crop diversity in Slovakia.
Highlights
The quality and diversity of European landscapes constitute a common resource and it is important to co-operate toward their protection, management, and planning [1]
Where yj is the crop diversity index (EH) of agricultural holding j as a dependent variable, α is the intercept, x1j is a single farm payment (SAPS), x2j is a payment for greening, x3j is a payment for less favorable areas (ANC), x4j is an agri-environmental scheme (AES) payment, x5j is a payment for organic agriculture (ECO), x6j is a payment for animal welfare (WELFARE), β1–6 express how many percentage points the crop diversity index changes by if a particular payment increases by one euro, x is a vector of the control variables in the model with particular regression coefficients expressed as vector γ, and εj represents residuals independent and identically distributed
The third group included the regions with the poorest soil quality: the Prešov region and the Žilina region
Summary
The quality and diversity of European landscapes constitute a common resource and it is important to co-operate toward their protection, management, and planning [1]. Renwick et al analyzed agricultural and trade reform on land use across Europe, focusing on the issue of land abandonment They noted that the overall impact of agriculture and trade reform on production within the EU is likely to be relatively small; a more disaggregated analysis highlighted more significant declines in particular countries, regions, and farm types, and showed that a loss of semi-natural farmland leads to a further decline in farmland biodiversity [24]. The third section describes the three econometric models used to identify the impact of CAP payments (e.g., single area payment scheme (SAPS) payments, greening, payments for areas facing natural constraints (ANC), agri-environmental scheme payments, organic agriculture payments, and animal welfare payments) on the crop diversity of agricultural holdings in Slovakia
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