Abstract
SummaryThe reformed Common Agricultural Policy includes a mandatory ‘greening’ component for direct payments, implementation of which has started in 2015. Two of the measures introduced (crop diversification and ecological focus area) will not be applied in holdings with AL below specific thresholds (10, 15 and 30 ha). This article uses statistical data on different territories and agricultural systems in order to assess the possible impacts of these exclusions. It investigates if and in which regions this exemption may generate a theoretical loss of environmental protection, depending on farming systems and current level of semi‐natural vegetation. The analysis sketches a complex picture and highlights the regions where the exclusion from these two measures may generate greater issues. Noticeably, considering those regions where there is a major prevalence of specialist cereals farming systems, these greening measures concern 97 per cent of all AL. Regions with current low values of semi‐natural vegetation where more than half of AL is exempt from greening are relatively few. Member States may consider adopting specific targeted policy in these regions. Applying a set of decision thresholds to fine‐tune the analysis, the GIS created could be used as a decision support tool by national and regional authorities.
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