Environmental standards and their linkage to support instruments of agricultural policy

The term,Good farming practice" (GfP) encompasses recommendations for technical advise up to legally binding standards, subject to sanctions. In the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy different expressions for environmental standards are used. Often they are not confined clearly from each other. Thereby the expression GfP refers only, in contrast to the German usage, to environmental standards as pre-requisite for support in agri-environmental programmes and less-favoured areas. In Germany, verifiable standards of GfP for these support measures are based on special agricultural law for the areas of fertiliser and pesticide use, defining 6 indicators for regular inspections. A comparison of GfP in this framework between member states of the EU results in different emphasis and strategies in selecting verifiable standards. Control is frequently carried out using few and indirect indicators, which are to be a sign for compliance with GfP. As the importance of agri-environmental measures is very different, control frequency varies substantially between member states and regions. Considering that these controls preferentially include extensive farms, one can call into question their efficiency. Further on, in the last years several member states introduced standards specific to particular environmental problems as precondition for the receipt of direct payments within the 1. Pillar (cross compliance). GfP in the context of the 2. Pillar as well as the new requirements for cross compliance, that are now to be harmonised for all member states, constitute sets of minimum standards for agriculture, but they are as yet unconnected. Both codes are influencing the design of agri-environmental measures. Together with the fact that member states themselves are controlled by the EU, this can be an incentive of keeping the baseline, defined by these standards, at a low level.