Fears farmers will leave EU income supports behind because of conditionality 

The Netherlands has already indicated that enhanced conditionality will compromise greening requirements in agriculture. File Picture. 

The danger of farmers opting out of the system of EU income support payments, if too many conditions are attached, has been raised.

Under the European Commission’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), farmers can receive basic payments for each hectare of their land, if they fulfil certain requirements.

Researchers at Wageningen Economic Research in the Netherlands looked at several scenarios under enhanced conditionality expected in the new CAP in 2023, to see what it would mean for the running costs of a number of agricultural enterprises.

“If the cost of compliance for farmers is too great, it's likely they will opt out, ” says researcher Petra Berkhout.

“We considered the points at which requirements become so onerous that there's no financial incentive to comply,” says Berkhout. 

“If the cost of compliance for farmers exceeds the benefits, there’s a chance they’ll opt out. You then lose some of the environmental benefits you’re trying to achieve through enhanced conditionality, and the farmer loses out on the payments.” 

The researchers found that around 90 dairy cattle businesses based on peatlands would be faced with relatively high costs, averaging around €120 per hectare.

Organic farmers could face a significant cost under a scenario where they too are required to establish buffer strips beside nature zones.

The same applies to vegetable growers, and any field crop businesses with less than 15 hectares.

in the Netherlands, it is proposed that enhanced conditionality would comprise current greening requirements plus existing “good agricultural and environmental conditions”.

The research conclusions are somewhat theoretical because the European Commission's proposals for the CAP are still being negotiated by the member state and the European Parliament, and member states have yet to create National Strategic Plans for implementing CAP measures.

It is likely that non-compliance with enhanced conditionality would also hamper farmers’ access to proposed eco-schemes, designed to incentivise agricultural practices that go beyond the enhanced conditionality requirements in terms of environmental and climate objectives.

The researchers were commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality to analyse the impact of a range of possible options for enhanced conditionality on the running costs of agricultural enterprises.

The report concluded that four standards can have a strong influence on willingness to participate. 

These relate to the protection of wetlands and peatlands, creation of buffer strips along watercourses, crop rotation, and allocation of farmland for non-productive purposes.

A good example, according to Berkhout, is starch cultivation. 

“Our research found that for farmers growing potatoes for starch production, complying with the conditionality removes the incentive to take the payment. 

"This could have an impact on the area of starch potatoes and hence on the AVEBE starch processing cooperative.”

Berkhout’s advice to policymakers was, “Make it less complicated, with simpler measures, and think about ease of implementation. 

"If complexity is built in from the start, there’s a good chance you'll miss your target.”