Agriculture & Land Management

Our Work

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) continues to be a major driver of land use and management decisions. The integration of environmental objectives and measures into the CAP has been a long and incremental process. IEEP has been closely involved in seeking to improve the environmental focus of the CAP over successive reforms since the 1980s. We provide informed analysis and innovative thinking to stimulate debates, building on our in-depth understanding of this policy area.

Our work seeks to provide the evidence base for refocussing the CAP towards environmental objectives.  We seek to enhance the way in which the CAP supports the provision of environmental goods and services through influencing the management of agricultural and forest land. Our work in this area focuses on:

  • Innovative thinking to inform future policy design
  • Advice and guidance on mainstreaming environmental and climate issues within the CAP
  • Developing suitable monitoring and evaluation frameworks, including the design of indicators
  • Evaluating the environmental impacts of the CAP implementation choices made by Member States

We have pan-European experience and detailed knowledge of the intricacies of both Pillars of the CAP and the different funding opportunities available in both. In particular, our expertise covers cross-compliance, green direct payments, support within Areas of Natural Constraint, and rural development measures that can be used for environmental purposes, especially the agri-environment-climate measure. IEEP played an important role in providing evidence to inform the discussions on reforming the CAP post 2014. We have contributed to the provision of guidance on mainstreaming climate and biodiversity priorities within the CAP and on tracking climate and biodiversity expenditure under both Pillar 1 and within rural development programmes.

Latest in Future of the CAP

  • What contributions can agricultural emissions make to the proposed Effort Sharing Regulation?

    New IEEP report finds the agriculture sector can significantly contribute to the EU’s climate commitments by reducing its non-CO2 emissions. It also finds these contributions can be delivered cost efficiently with environmental co-benefits without impacting production.

  • Towards sustainability: Future policies for European livestock

    The CAP is failing to reward adequately those livestock farmers who produce public goods. Brexit and CAP reform are opportunities to do better.

  • Improving environmental financing via result-based agri-environment measures

    A new article by IEEP explores the use of result-based agri-environment measures in the region of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The study shows that result-based schemes can increase the environmental effectiveness and conditionality of the EU Common Agricultural Policy.

  • CAP greening: what are its environmental prospects?

    A significant injection of money was agreed for ‘green’ farming practices under the recent CAP reform. This report examines the environmental impact these measures are likely to have on the ground and concludes that Member States’ implementation choices appear to have much diminished the chances of the greening measures delivering significant additional environmental benefits.

  • Results-based agri-environment schemes: new report and guidance handbook available

    Are you interested in developing and implementing a results-based payment scheme for farmland biodiversity? Together with experts from across Europe, IEEP has produced a range of useful resources to guide the future development of results-based agri-environment schemes in the EU and beyond.

  • EU research project PEGASUS - new thinking on sustainable land management

    EU research project PEGASUS kicked off in London on 29-30 April. The three-year project, led by IEEP, is focused on transforming land management approaches in the EU to improve the delivery of public goods and ecosystem services from rural areas.

  • The Manual: Chapter 13 - Sectoral policies

    This is a chapter of IEEP’s Manual of European Environmental Policy. This chapter sets out the development of some of the most important links between EU environmental policy and other policy areas, such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, transport, trade, and so on.

  • High Nature Value farming throughout EU-27 and its financial support under the CAP

    This study reviews Member States’ estimates of the extent of HNV farmland and use of RDP measures and the CMEF indicators, then identifies future priorities for CAP support for HNV farming and discusses the support opportunities under the reformed CAP. It offers detailed new evidence about the combined effect of Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 CAP payments on the economic and environmental viability of a typical HNV farming system in three Member States.

  • New report: High Nature Value Farming in the EU

    Member States need to make the most of the opportunities under the new Common Agricultural Policy if the declines in HNV farming, critical for meeting our 2020 biodiversity targets, are to be halted.

  • Environment undermined in CAP deal

    An attempt by the European Commission to place the environment more centrally within agricultural policy has been comprehensively watered down in the final agreement.

  • A greener CAP: still within reach?

    The greening of the CAP hangs in the balance in the final negotiations; a synthesis of key issues and requirements.

  • Greening the CAP - how ‘equivalent’ are alternative approaches?

    A contentious issue in the negotiations on the future of the CAP is how to implement the proposed new green direct payments to farmers. However, proposals to increase flexibility for Member States will not necessarily be administratively any simpler and may risk weakening environmental outcomes.

  • Principles of Double Funding

    This briefing explores the issue of double funding in relation to the CAP reform debate and considers the implications for delivering added value for the environment.

  • EP vote must not undermine a greener CAP

    A decade’s progress in improving the Common Agricultural Policy’s environmental credentials risks being lost if the EP vote to water down the Commission’s ambitious proposals to green the CAP.

  • Land Stewardship in England post 2013: CAP greening and agri-environment

    What will the introduction of environmental measures in Pillar 1 mean for agri-environment schemes in the future? A topic of much debate as part of the CAP reform negotiations, this new report explores the potential impacts of greening Pillar 1 on England’s entry-level agri-environment scheme and how a future scheme could be designed to deliver more for the environment and ensure the long term sustainability of farming.

  • Designing RDPs fit for the environment

    Substantial changes to rural development regulation have been proposed which provide significant opportunities for Member States to deliver more for the environment. This report highlights some of these opportunities and sets out a series of principles and environmental priorities to help guide Member States in designing their future rural development programmes.

  • Systemic approach to adaptation to climate change and renewable energy harnessing (Biomass and Mini-hydro)

    Biochar has the potential to both mitigate greenhouse gases, and to act as an adaptation measure in terms of responding to the impacts of climate change. Based on its compatibility with the appropriate soil properties, it could increase the resilience of soil to erosion.

  • Maximising environmental benefits through Ecological Focus Areas

    Of the three measures proposed to 'green' Pillar 1 direct payments, Ecological Focus Areas have the greatest potential to address a range of environmental concerns. How much of this potential is realised depends on a number of key factors discussed in this new IEEP report prepared at the request of the Land Use Policy Group.

  • Addressing the EU’s biodiversity goals through the CAP

    What is the relationship between the management of agricultural land and biodiversity? To what extent are the EU’s biodiversity goals addressed through the CAP?

  • Delivering environmental benefits through entry-level agri-environment schemes in the EU

    A new study of the 2007-13 agri-environment schemes across the whole of EU-27 provides the first typology of ‘entry-level’ agri-environment management and environmental objectives, plus a detailed insight into the design of entry-level agri-environment schemes and calculation of payment rates in seven Member States.

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