European agri-environmental policy for the 21st century
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The present paper reviews the development of agri-environmental policy in Europe
and assesses its prospects. While it does so from a predominantly UK perspective,
there are many common features of the experience and policy choices across the
majority of Member States. The first generation of agri-environmental measures
applied command-and-control regulation for the prevention of pollution. Second-generation
measures pay farmers for providing environmental public goods. The
emphasis on ‘amenity’ derived from the maintenance of agricultural production
systems contrasts with policy approaches in Australia and the USA. Well-designed
incentive schemes constitute ‘quasi-markets’ for public goods, correcting for a
pre-existing market failure. Problems in the delivery of policy include poor spatial
targeting and a lack of clarity between environmental and income support objectives.
Various changes will be required in order to increase the environmental effectiveness
and efficiency of agri-environmental mechanisms.