Presentation of RLI advise on CAP and EcoSchemes for Renew Group of the European Parliament

1. www.rli.nl

2. How to best use the new CAP eco-
schemes?
Create synergy with private
sustainability schemes !
Krijn Poppe
Member of the Council (and senior economist and policy advisor with
Wageningen UR)
Presentation European Parliament Renew Europe Group, June 10, 2020
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3. Presentation based on an advise for the
Dutch Minister for Agriculture on the
implementation of the new CAP
Policy questions:
How can the revised CAP contribute to a transition towards circular
agriculture?
What does this imply for the National Strategic Plan?
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4. Main advise
1. Spend a growing part of the budget in the first pillar on eco-
schemes. Adjust the criteria for the eco-schemes regularly,
using experiences from practice. Use the CAP budget in pillar 2
also for initiatives that are a ‘delivery room’ for eco-schemes
2. Connect eco-schemes to private sustainability schemes.
Assessment with an independent authority.
3. Use an integral point system in the execution of the eco-
schemes that describes with key performance indicators how
far a farm business has progressed on circular agriculture.
4. (develop AKIS on circular agriculture).
5. (keep Pillar 2 on the current level)
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5. Private sustainability schemes: examples
Glanbia Ireland payment to boost biodiversity - 0.20 cent per litre
measures:
- Riparian buffer strips on watercourses;
- Creating shelter belts and wildlife corridors;
- Pollinator plots;
- Planting additional hedgerows and native trees this autumn.
On the way to PlanetProof:
• Soil, landscape and biodiversity
• Water
• Energy
• Production & consumption (waste)
• Climate
• Animal health and welfare
Initiative Tierwohl – ITW: retail, 6,700 farms,
Slaughterhouses with the German Animal Welfare
Association. 10% more space and more
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6. Eco-schemes
• Risk of crowding out / competing with private initiatives
• Annual payments: incentive big enough to change farm practice?
• For long-term developments, farmers usually orient themselves first
and foremost towards markets and other food chain actors, not
primarily on governments.
Therefor:
• Connect eco-schemes to market-driven sustainability schemes
using the equivalence principle (as in current greening and organic)
• Use a common point system with key performance indicators for
eco-schemes and private sustainability schemes
• Collaborate with the market and not against it. Incentivize agri-
business to change from competing on price to competing on
sustainability
• Start with 30% budget of pillar 1 for eco-schemes6

7. Sustainability has many dimensions and issues are
regional. A point system helps farmers to address the
issues they can tackle. Best practices can be identified
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8. Integrated point system
• To be developped with food system partners, government declares
• List of critical performance indicators (CPI’s)
• Supports market oriented private sustainability schemes and CAP
eco-schemes.
• Regularly assessed and calibrated with monitoring systems,
supported by research (Farm-to-Fork: Farm Sustainability Data
Network !).
• Supports progress in the right direction, no passing on as CPI’s are
coherent and a minimum score on an indicator is needed.
• CPI can be build in in farm management systems and help farmers
to take actions in sustainability
• Actions by farmers score points on the CPI
• Government introduces a few eco-schemes based on the point
system (light, moderate, heavy): more points = more demanding
scheme = more money
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10. Less bureaucracy
• Farmers participating in an approved sustainability scheme run by
the private sector (or water authorities or civil society
organisations) would, under the principle of compliance by default,
automatically have the possibility of taking part in the equivalent
eco-scheme.
• Management and oversight of compliance would be the
responsibility of the private sustainability scheme
• Checks by the government to determine that compliance checks by
these organisations are adequate.
• Prevents doubling the level of bureaucracy.
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11. How it
could
work in
practice
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Ministry for Agriculture Authority for assesment Agri-businesses, Colective farm Farmer
Ecquivalence groups, ngo's with private A
Sustainability schemes and certification schemes or
Eco-Schemes sustainability schemes
Designs integrated Designs integrated
point scheme (incl. CPI) point scheme together
with stakeholders with government
Minister declares Adjust sustainability scheme
pointscheme and CPI on official point scheme
Authority defines procedure ant its CPI
to grant equivalence decides to participate
Announces Eco-schemes for in sustainability scheme
year X with points needed on makes a request for
relevant indicators for light equivalence
moderate, heavy scheme
Asseses request on content
auditability, ambition
Decides equivalence with
ER (light, m, heavy) for year X
In case too much interest: Requests ER payment
more budget from basic referring to equivalence
payment or the light eco-
schemes are curtailed
Ministry pays audits farmers if they
respect the requirements
of sustainability scheme
audit of private In case of non-compliance
sustainability scheme farmer decertified from
scheme

12. References
Krijn Poppe and Hannah Koutstaal: Eco-Schemes and Private
Sustainability Initiatives: Creating Synergies in: EuroChoices 2020/1
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1746-692X.12250
Rli Advisory report:
https://en.rli.nl/publications/2019/advice/european-agricultural-
policy
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