EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 13: Environment and Agriculture improving, with 43 per cent of soil samples sufficient in phosphorus and 50 per cent sufficient in potassium in 2017-2019 (Teagasc, pers. comm.). The Smart Farming initiative has found that maintaining soil fertility at optimum levels represents the largest cost saving on participating farms. It is crucial that soil fertility and soil pH are addressed on farms in a coordinated manner as one of the most important responses to reduce agricultural emissions to air, soil and water. 4. What’s Being Done Common Agricultural Policy and Common Agricultural Policy Reform Post 2020, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is expected to set ambitious new requirements with respect to environmental protection and climate change that will be based on results and performance. The CAP is a system of subsidies and support programmes for agriculture operated by the EU. Originally launched in 1962 it was developed as a partnership between agriculture and society, and between Europe and its Member State farmers. The main aims of the policy are to secure a decent standard of living for farmers and a stable, secure and varied food supply for European citizens. A key facet of the current iteration of the CAP is the application of ‘greening’ rules, which was supported by the 2014- 2020 Rural Development Programme for Ireland (DAFM, 2015b). 7 The CAP is currently undergoing significant reform and is likely to set ambitious new requirements with respect to environmental protection and climate change. These requirements are likely to include the preservation of carbon-rich soils through the protection of wetlands and peatlands; the use of nutrient management tools to improve water quality and reduce nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions; and the use of crop rotation instead of crop diversification. The European Commission has also proposed a more flexible system of administration to shift the emphasis from rules and compliance to results and performance-based indicators. This will allow Member States to tailor policies to local and national needs. 7 Payment for a compulsory set of ‘greening measures’ was implemented to enable the CAP to be more effective in delivering its environmental and climate objectives. The new greening architecture of the CAP offers significant opportunities to raise the overall environmental performance of the agricultural sector. It is essential that measures introduced under the new CAP can show quantifiable and verifiable environmental gains and attract intensive farmers. However, the new CAP alone will not provide all of the solutions to the growing pressures from agriculture on water, climate, air pollution and biodiversity. A whole-of-sector approach is required in which the whole industry (from livestock and land management to the food industry, agricultural education and government) is closely involved in establishing effective and accountable programmes and initiatives that will deliver on environmental targets and sustainability but also underpin on-farm efficiencies and market access. This challenge cannot be underestimated and will need collaboration right across the industry. EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 Biodiversity loss and climate change are interlinked. Maintaining our soils, our forests and our wetlands will help to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The recently published EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 (EC, 2020a) aims to establish protected areas for at least 30 per cent of the land in Europe and restore degraded ecosystems on land through an increase in organic farming and biodiversity-rich landscape features; halting and reversing the decline in pollinators; reducing the use of pesticides by 50 per cent by 2030; and planting 3 billion trees by 2030. The strategy requires every European Member State to play a role, based on objective ecological criteria, recognising that each country has a different quantity and quality of biodiversity. As custodians of our land, farmers are pivotal. When biodiversity is lost on agricultural land farmers are the first to see the consequences, and when it is restored they are the first to see the benefits. To support the sustainability of both nature and farming the EU Biodiversity Strategy is aligned with developments in the new CAP and the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy (EC, 2020b). 339