Abstract
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) proposes environmental policies developed around action-based conservation measures supported by agri-environment schemes (AES). High Nature Value (HNV) farming represents a combination of low-intensity and mosaic practices mostly developed in agricultural marginalized rural areas which sustain rich biodiversity. Being threatened by intensification and abandonment, such farming practices were supported in the last CAP periods by targeted AES. This study aims to identify the most important farming trends in a recognized HNV grasslands Romanian site, subject to public conservation actions. The content analysis of multi-actor focus groups transcripts identifies innovation needs for alternative sustainable HNV farming systems, assessing also the most important barriers for their local deployment. Results show that stakeholders have strong awareness about the existence of HNV farming practices in their territory and their negative trends (abandonment; intensification) that might irreversibly affect biodiversity and cultural values. Current AES could not compensate for the existing innovation gaps. Although local stakeholders have basic awareness about alternative innovative approaches, they failed in their deployment mainly due to the lack of collective actions. Access to adapted knowledge reservoirs and the promotion of local innovation catalyzers are essential for the future sustainability of HNV farming practices.
Highlights
Published: 11 March 2021The High Nature Value farmlands (HNVf) design European areas “where agriculture is a major land use and where agriculture supports, or is associated with, either a high species and habitat diversity or the presence of species of European conservation concern, or both” [1] (p. 4)
The focus groups participants organized in Step 1 were grouped by main activity and geographical position
Most were farmers (77.8%), half being entitled for Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments
Summary
Published: 11 March 2021The High Nature Value farmlands (HNVf) design European areas “where agriculture is a major (usually the dominant) land use and where agriculture supports, or is associated with, either a high species and habitat diversity or the presence of species of European conservation concern, or both” [1] (p. 4). Union (EU) used agricultural area (UAA) is recognized as HNVf [2]. It is represented by grasslands, arable lands, permanent croplands, or a mosaic of diverse systems usually managed with low-input farming techniques [3]. The HNV areas were recognized relatively recently in the EU (since the 1990s) [4], together with the acknowledgment of the negative effects caused by the intensification of the agricultural practices on ecosystem services and environment [5]. The HNV areas are presently threatened by intensification and abandonment leading to possible irreversible negative effects on biodiversity in the long-term [8,9,10]
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