CAP's environmental policy and land use in arable farms: An impacts assessment of greening practices changes in Italy

Abstract

The study assesses the possible impact of first pillar reform of the Common Agricultural Policy by focusing on the new greening rules defined by the recent Omnibus regulation. The analysis was carried out on a Farm Accountancy Data Network sample of Italian farms using by a Positive Mathematical Programming model. Moreover, our analysis is stratified by geographical area and altimetric level and uses some additional environmental and social indicators beyond those economic. The results indicate that the new greening rules generate positive but limited environmental impacts, which reinforce those already determined by the previous CAP reform, for example the use of chemical fertilizers is further reduced. These additional positive environmental impacts are obtained with very limited income reductions. Yet, the impacts on the various geographical areas and their altimetric levels are different, and sometimes controversial. For example, there is a growth in the use of pesticides in the northern plains, due to the increase in rice and soybean areas. On the other hand, agricultural employment in Southern Italy decreases, where agriculture is an important source of employment for the rural population. This reduction also affects the mountain areas, thus accentuating the already high risk of abandonment. All this suggests that more targeted measures will have to be implemented in the future planning of agricultural policy, so as to shape the various actions according to the characteristics of the various rural areas, as well as to the specific priorities of the Member State.