Agro-ecological Knowledge Hub
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RG Z
Governments and Administration

Governments and Administration

Policy recommendations

Policy measures to promote knowledge and to support cooperation are key instruments to encourage agro-ecological transitions in Europe, in particular where farms are getting acquainted with agro-ecological practices and need to build up their knowledge base. The support to advisory services is the backbone of agro-ecological transitions, which involve shifting from an input-intensive to a knowledge-intensive production paradigm. Cooperation measures have the potential to create synergies between and within different food chains, to sustain capacity building, as well as to encourage consumer involvement. Agri-environment payments and payments for investments should be further tailored and targeted to specific farm types (e.g. small and medium farms) to favour broaden changes and to ensure the permanence of new practices. The Rural Development Program of the Common Agricultural Policy includes such instruments, which, however, might benefit from adjustments and targeting to embrace agro-ecology as a priority. Result-based payments for agro-ecological practices are important innovative instruments, the benefits of which are observed via pilot projects. Involving farmers in result monitoring could improve the cost-effectiveness of the measures. 

Agro-ecological transitions require medium-long term strategic plans, able to foster farm-level change and to allow a gradual upscaling of agro-ecology at the territorial level, by:

  • improving farmer knowledge, through cooperation and peer-to-peer learning, about the environmental benefits and economic opportunities of agro-ecology, through the mainstreaming of the experiences of the current EIP-AGRI Operational Groups;
  • increasing the capacity of local actors to create agro-ecological networks and long-lasting horizontal and vertical collaboration in the food chain, with dedicated initiatives involving small and medium farms. This includes increased collaboration of farmers in shared storage, processing and marketing activities, and engagement of value chain actors including traders, retailers, restaurants, schools and consumers in the creation of value chains that recognise the requirements and benefits of agro-ecological farming and food systems. This would improve farmers’ bargaining power and value added, thereby reducing the dependence of agro-ecological farming systems on public support;
  • enhancing sustainability standards for farming systems, where farmers are given greater responsibilities and rewards to reach environmental targets, also through new result-based Agri-Environment-Climate Measures;
  • aligning private schemes and value chain initiatives to public sustainability standards, as foreseen by the Farm to Fork Strategy;
  • including principles and practices of agro-ecology in school curricula covering principles of food production and consumption, agricultural practices, and social responsibility;
  • improving the design and governance of agricultural policies and to apply a wider food system perspective of agro-ecological transitions to meet the objectives of the European Green Deal.

Specific recommendations considering the different contexts of agro-ecological transitions in the the case studies in the 15 European countries have been summarised in a set of case study policy briefs.

Policy briefs

Austria

Czech Republic

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Romania

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

United Kingdom

Project level briefs