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Abstract: The European Union has set an ambitious goal to reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and to achieve a climate-neutral continent by 2050. This goal seems too ambitious and it is unlikely that it will be realistically fulfilled. At the level of the European Union, several legally binding acts are being adopted in the area of air, water or soil and agriculture, with the aim of setting harmonized rules in all member states. At the same time, there is a revision of several existing legal acts. However, such a procedure represents only one part of the goal. The second, more important one, lies in the willingness of states to properly transpose and apply European rules at the national levels. In the last 8 years, the European Commission has started more than 2,800 infringements in relation to member states due to incomplete or incorrect transposition or bad application practices related to the limits and rules set by European directives in the environment. Member States have a problem to fulfill their obligations and I think that this problem will continue in the future, despite all the efforts of the European Union to achieve the goals set through the European Green Deal. With the work presented, I want to point out the shortcomings and complications which arise in connection with the fulfillment of goals at the level of the European Union in the area of the environment.
Abstract: Agriculture plays a central role in the European Green Deal with various policies and strategies converging to promote sustainable agriculture and food systems. The Farm to Fork strategy approaches agriculture from a sustainable food systems perspective. Sustainable agriculture is also central in the European Biodiversity strategy, in the Long-term vision for EU Rural areas and in the Soil strategy. Despite clear policy objectives, there is still a long way towards an effective transition towards sustainable agriculture based on integrated, science based, solutions This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the challenges and opportunities for the transition towards a sustainable agriculture in Europe, the role of European policies and practical approaches. We reviewed policy documents, scientific literature and global data to reflect on the vision of the Farm to Fork and other European strategies affecting sustainable agriculture, focusing on which policy instruments are foreseen to reach their objectives, which are the key-challenges related to achieve more sustainable farming, and on possible approaches to attain sustainable agriculture. We provide an overview of synergies and shared objectives between different European policies and strategies aiming to support the transition to sustainable agriculture from environmental, social and economic perspectives. We identified several often reported challenges to attain sustainable food systems: reduced yields, increased land demand, nitrogen needs, changes in diet, food waste, distribution and access to food, and externalities to third countries. Finally, we discuss two main approaches to sustainable agriculture with potential complementarity to fulfil the objectives of sustainable agriculture as reflected in the different European policies and strategies. Sustainable intensification with focus on environmental- friendly production, and agroecology with focus on ecology, social justice and food sovereignty. We reflect on how both approaches can be integrated to create synergies and optimize delivery of multiple ecosystem services. The transformation to sustainable agriculture, as expected from the several revised strategies, is not just a technical question of farming practices, but requires a holistic approach considering social, economic, cultural, technical and environmental aspects. Local adaptations, stakeholder participation, and recognition that agriculture produces more than crops, are key to support this transition of agriculture and food systems. The transition towards more sustainable agriculture requires alignment of policies related to social, economic and environmental aspects, including social and economic acknowledgment to farmers, as managers of agroecosystems and cultural landscapes delivering a range of ecosystem services.
Abstract: Farmland abandonment is a major proximate driver of landscape change in European rural areas and is often followed by natural revegetation. In certain conditions, it might be preferable to prevent or reverse farmland abandonment or manage these areas towards active restoration (i.e., guided rewilding with wild or domesticated animals). These alternative responses to farmland abandonment lead to context-dependent impacts, which can potentially contribute to European Green Deal objectives for environment and rural areas. While previous studies analysed direct impacts of abandonment, there is little insight into how alternative ways of managing abandoned farmland can best contribute to environmental policy goals, and what type of management is preferred where. To assess opportunities in these areas, we compared three abandonment trajectories: natural revegetation, active restoration with rewilding, and extensive re-farming. We analysed the potential positive and negative environmental and cultural impacts of developing these management strategies in all farmland locations that could potentially be abandoned across Europe. Mapping and quantification of the benefits and risks associated with different management responses to abandonment indicate a large spatial variation across regions. While natural revegetation can support high benefits for carbon sequestration and erosion reduction, it is also linked to more frequent trade-offs than re-farming and rewilding. However, there is a very strong spatial variation in these trade-offs. It is worthwhile to focus on areas with the largest gains and fewest trade-offs when targeting investments for prevention of abandonment or rewilding. Our maps can help inform interventions in abandoned farmland to maximise the potential contributions of these lands to the European Green Deal environmental and rural policy targets.
Abstract: The European Green Deal (EGD) marked the commitment of the European Union (EU) to a carbon-free, socially inclusive economic system. Even if conceived as an essentially domestic growth strategy, the EGD is inspiring EU diplomacy, as economic cooperation will be needed to realize the EGD’s ambitious vision. This profile aims to investigate and reflect on the potential implications of the EGD for the countries in the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood, especially in the energy sector, agriculture and food system, trade in raw materials, climate action, and circular economy. We expect the EGD to result in an increased investment in renewable energy, a reduction in emissions, green diplomacy, and funding opportunities for green projects and green infrastructures. The EGD brings with it attractive opportunities for a better cooperation on climate action and opportunities for job creation, green growth, and sustainable development. We believe that the EGD has the potential to be a win–win deal for the EU and its Southern Neighbours, with the EU goal to supply green inputs and of creating a market for green products.
Abstract: This article critically examines the state’s steering capacity of ‘green innovation’ programs using Sweden’s implementation of the agricultural European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI) as a case representing part of the EU’s Green Deal. The innovations should promote the competitiveness of rural areas and contribute to national environmental protection and climate goals. We found that despite expectations, implementation rests on compartmentalized networking within the agricultural sector, prioritizing increased ‘competitiveness’ before ‘green’ development, and interpreting ‘innovation’ mainly in the technical sense. The results indicate that the state´s steering capacity of ‘green innovation’ programs meets several obstacles: the overall goals from the top tend to be both too many and too vague, leaving it to the administration to interpret what kinds of features should be prioritized from below. The state’s steering in the case of EIP-AGRI relies mostly on internal agricultural expertise contrary to previous research that suggests a recent ‘de-compartmentalisation’ of European agricultural policymaking.
Will recent world events shift policy-makers’ focus from sustainable agriculture to intensive and competitive agriculture?; Giuseppe Timpanaro [and three others]; Heliyon: 2023-07; Volume 9; Issue 7; Article e17991; 12 pp.
Abstract: The events of recent years (pandemic and conflict in the European area) have led to a rethink of traditional policies on trade and support for domestic production. The concept of national “selfsufficiency” is being consolidated to the detriment of globalization and the possibility of buying raw materials on the world market at the lowest price. European agriculture, affected by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) review for the 2023/2027 programming period, is not exempt from this process. Therefore, the construction of National Strategic Plans may partly dampen the drive towards sustainability undertaken with the Green Deal and related strategies (from Farm to Fork, Biodiversity 2030, and Circular Economic) up to the 2030 Agenda Goals because producers are demanding greater freedom in production intensification. The research, conducted in a traditionally agricultural area in Italy, shows that competitive and sustainable agriculture can coexist thanks to entrepreneurial choices based on values and interest in the territory. Despite the difficulties arising from the changing conditions of the international scenario, which have led to an increase in production costs and a contraction of market opportunities, agriculture has become resilient thanks to sound agronomic practices and the sustainability of the process. Therefore, a model of agriculture more closely linked to the territory’s characteristics is proposed.
Abstract: In line with the Farm to Fork strategy and the European Green Deal plan for creating a sustainable food system, the European Commission has set goals for 2030: reducing the use of pesticides and the risks associated with their use by 50%, the use of fertilizers by at least 20%, the sale of antimicrobials used in animal husbandry and aquaculture by 50% and 25% of agricultural land used for organic farming. Implementation of these assumptions requires institutional support and providing farmers with a specific framework. Certification Schemes (CSs) in agriculture are one way to achieve these goals. The number of CSs that support the strategy in the EU member states is 170 intra-EU and 198 including associated countries. Together with Organic farming, the CSs on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) seem to be particularly important in reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers. The aim of the article is to present selected issues related to CSs implementing the strategy of reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers. These include the well-known Organic farming, but also the public, national level CS "Haute Valeur Environnementale" (France), CS "Sistema di Qualità Nazionale di Produzione Integrata per le Produzioni Agricole" (Italy) and CS "Integrowana Produkcja" (Poland), implementing GAP.
Abstract: Eco‐schemes are set to play an important role in the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post‐2022 for the delivery of environmental and climate benefits and enhanced animal welfare. This article surveys current plans for the design of eco‐schemes in fifteen European Union Member States. The number of eco‐scheme measures to be offered per country varies between 3 and 21, and the complexity and level of ambition of the individual measures are quite heterogeneous. The majority of the proposed eco‐scheme measures either build upon components from greening obligations or stem from agri‐environmental and climate schemes currently offered under Pillar 2. All fifteen Member States address Green Deal targets, with particular emphasis being given to biodiversity enhancement and non‐productive land. Eight of the countries surveyed are planning to provide support for organic farming through an eco‐scheme. The greater creative freedom offered by the CAP’s New Delivery Model has resulted in a situation where similar measures are programmed as eco‐schemes in some countries and as Pillar 2 measures in others. By adding yet another policy instrument to the CAP’s toolbox, the complexity of the CAP is vastly increased. It remains to be seen how farmers will respond.
Abstract: The French farm and food sectors face increasingsocietal pressures to engage in a sustainable transition.By defining ambitious environmental objectives andpromising significant funds for green investment, theGreen Deal roadmap of the European Union provides aunique opportunity to make this transition feasible.This paper assesses the current economic ability of theFrench food system to cope with the restrictions on fer-tilizers, pesticides, and land uses defined in this com-prehensive roadmap. Integrating the most recentstatistical evidence on the behaviors of French farmersand consumers into a macroeconomic simulationmodel, we find that these farm-related objectives arereachable without seriously hampering the incomes ofactive farmers and transferring the burden onto foreigneconomies. These results are highly dependent on thecurrently unknown definition of high-biodiversity land-scape features.
Abstract : The European Green Deal has set a concrete strategic plan to increase farm sustainability. At the same time, the current global challenges, due to climate change and fuels and commodity market crises, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine, affect the need for quality food and necessitate the reduction of negative external effects of agricultural production, with fair remuneration for the farmers. In response, precision agriculture has great potential to contribute to sustainable development. Precision agriculture is a farming management system that provides a holistic approach to managing the spatial and temporal crop and soil variability within a field to improve the farm’s performance and sustainability. However, farmers are still hesitant to adopt it. On these premises, the study aims to evaluate the impacts of precision agriculture technologies on farm economic, agronomic, and environmental management by farmers adopting (or not) these technologies, using the case study method. In detail, the work focuses on the period 2014–2022 for two farms that cultivate durum wheat in central Italy. The results suggest that the implementation of precision technologies can guarantee economic and agri-environmental efficiency. The results could serve as a basis for developing a program to start training in farms as well as to suggest policy strategies.
Abstract: Agriculture plays a central role in the European Green Deal with various policies and strategies converging to promote sustainable agriculture and food systems. The Farm to Fork strategy approaches agriculture from a sustainable food systems perspective. Sustainable agriculture is also central in the European Biodiversity strategy, in the Long-term vision for EU Rural areas and in the Soil strategy. Despite clear policy objectives, there is still a long way towards an effective transition towards sustainable agriculture based on integrated, science based, solutions. This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the challenges and opportunities for the transition towards a sustainable agriculture in Europe, the role of European policies and practical approaches. We reviewed policy documents, scientific literature and global data to reflect on the vision of the Farm to Fork and other European strategies affecting sustainable agriculture, focussing on which policy instruments are foreseen to reach their objectives, which are the key-challenges related to achieve more sustainable farming, and on possible approaches to attain sustainable agriculture. We provide an overview of synergies and shared objectives between different European policies and strategies aiming to support the transition to sustainable agriculture from environmental, social and economic perspectives. We identified several often reported challenges to attain sustainable food systems: reduced yields, increased land demand, nitrogen needs, changes in diet, food waste, distribution and access to food, and externalities to third countries. Finally, we discuss two main approaches to sustainable agriculture with potential complementarity to fulfil the objectives of sustainable agriculture as reflected in the different European policies and strategies. Sustainable intensification with focus on environmental- friendly production, and agroecology with focus on ecology, social justice and food sovereignty. We reflect on how both approaches can be integrated to create synergies and optimize delivery of multiple ecosystem services. The transformation to sustainable agriculture, as expected from the several revised strategies, is not just a technical question of farming practices, but requires a holistic approach considering social, economic, cultural, technical and environmental aspects. Local adaptations, stakeholder participation, and recognition that agriculture produces more than crops, are key to support this transition of agriculture and food systems. The transition towards more sustainable agriculture requires alignment of policies related to social, economic and environmental aspects, including social and economic acknowledgment to farmers, as managers of agroecosystems and cultural landscapes delivering a range of ecosystem services. [Display omitted] •We review policy instruments, key-challenges and approaches to attain sustainable agricultural systems within the Green Deal.•Challenges include reduced yields, land demand, nitrogen needs, changes in diet, food waste, distribution and access to food, and externalities.•Integration of different approaches to sustainable agriculture is required to optimize a range of ecosystem services•This requires changes in the food system, from land management to distribution, diets, education and spatial optimization•Actors supporting the transition through increased delivery of ecosystem services need socioeconomic recognition.
Systèmes alimentaires / Food Systems; 2021; Volume 6; pp. 265-277
Résumé: Dans le cadre du Pacte vert, les stratégies relatives au climat, à la biodiversité et « de la ferme à la table » pourraient impacter fortement les systèmes agricoles et alimentaires européens. Nous décrivons les mesures concernant tant l’offre que la demande qui favoriseraient les transformations de ces systèmes. Ainsi, nous présentons les directions qui aligneraient la PAC sur les objectifs du Pacte vert et insistons sur la nécessaire complémentarité des politiques agricoles et alimentaires.
Abstract: More and better collaboration between farmers and other stakeholders has repeatedly been identified as a key strategy for sustainable agriculture. However, for collaboration to actually benefit sustainable agriculture certain conditions have to be met. In this paper, we scrutinize the conditions that support or hamper the success of collaborative efforts in the context of sustainable agriculture. For this purpose, we conducted an exploratory case study meta-analysis to consolidate insights from 30 case studies on local and regional collaborative groups for a more sustainable agriculture in the EU. Through multiple regression analysis, we evaluated which factors influence the ‘success’ of such collaboratives. Thereby, we measured success through five explicit and comprehensive success criteria. We found two external, five actor-related, and five organization and management-related factors to decisively influence the different success criteria. Overall, our results highlight that collaboration success requires defining priorities as for each of the success criteria a different set of factors is decisive. Although our results showed trade-offs between the achievement of social and economic goals, it is possible to pursue some success criteria simultaneously. Furthermore, our results give reason to be optimistic about the performance of collaboratives: internal factors, which are in the hand of the collaboratives, are likely to be of greater importance than uncontrollable external conditions. Additionally, conditions encountered at the outset of a collaborative matter less than the way these conditions develop toward later stages. Thus, rather than depending on external and predefined conditions, success largely depends on the agency within the collaboratives.
Abstract: The conversion of natural environments to artificial surfaces has significant irreversible impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The European Union (EU) has set ambitious goals to combat land artificialisation, including achieving “no net land take” by 2050. It also plans to expand its network of protected areas, including the Natura 2000 (N2K) sites, to 30 % of its area by 2030. However, studies have shown that land artificialisation continues to occur even within N2K sites. It has not yet been examined, though, which habitats are most affected. To address this gap, we used a high-resolution spatial layer of the EU’s habitats and layers showing impervious surfaces across the EU to quantify and compare the current levels of artificial surfaces within each habitat inside and outside N2K sites. We also compared the changes in impervious surfaces between 2012 and 2015 and 2015–2018. We found that the total extent of impervious surfaces, and their rates of change, were lower within the N2K sites for all habitats examined. However, patterns varied: coastal habitats, grasslands, and agricultural habitats had higher levels of artificial surfaces than others, even within N2K sites. Our findings indicate that although the planned expansion of the N2K network can help mitigate the artificialisation of threatened habitats, N2K sites do not entirely halt land conversion. Member States should further improve the management effectiveness of NK2 sites and promote financial and policy instruments addressing land artificialisation, e.g., through land recycling, to safeguard vulnerable habitats and achieve the EU’s conservation objectives.
Abstract: Excessive exploitation of natural resources has an environmental impact on ecosystems due to demographic and economic growth, and energy demand. For this reason, world economies have been implementing policy tools to achieve eco-friendly energy growth, minimizing environmental impact. It is necessary to increase Renewable Energies (RE) fraction in terms of electricity supply, improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption in greenhouses as well as in the agricultural sector. Thus, the European Green Deal (EGD) is a sustainable package of measures which, due to the ecological use of natural resources, strengthens the resilience of European food systems. The EGD’s objectives include: ensuring food security, reducing environmental impact, and supporting the farm to fork strategy and energy communities. The aim of this review is to present innovative energy technologies integrated with agrivoltaic systems to produce and utilize energy with eco-friendly methods. In this review, agrivoltaic systems were presented in the EGD perspective, since, as shown by several studies, they increase simultaneously clean energy production and crop yield, avoiding limitations in land use. As agrivoltaic systems produce energy by the installation of PV panels, an overview of PV technology was provided. PV panels can feed electricity to the power grid. Nowadays, since there are many impoverished rural areas which do not have access to electricity, a lot of projects have been developed that utilize power generation from microgrids combined with hybrid systems (e.g., wind and solar energy) to feed agricultural facilities or community buildings.
Résumé: Malgré l’inflation normative, le système juridique dans son ensemble ne semble pas parvenir à lutter efficacement contre l’érosion de la biodiversité. Du point de vue du droit de l’environnement, la quête de la performance est à replacer dans un contexte historique particulier. Après un développement textuel rapide depuis les années 1960-1970, qui a conduit à combler peu à peu les lacunes dans les principaux secteurs du droit de l’environnement, les enjeux se sont progressivement déplacés au début du vingt-et-unième siècle vers les conditions de l’effectivité voire de l’efficacité des textes existants, et encore plus récemment sur les indicateurs de mesure de cette effectivité. Ceci est la résultante d’un sentiment largement partagé : malgré la prolifération des normes environnementales, l’environnement continue à se dégrader. Le droit de l’environnement est-il inadapté aux enjeux écologiques ? Est-il mal mis en œuvre ? Ses effets sont-ils contrebalancés par ceux d’autres politiques publiques ? Secteur majeur du droit de l’environnement, la protection de la nature et de la biodiversité n’échappe naturellement pas à la montée en puissance de l’exigence de performance. La question se pose cependant de la place et du rôle du droit dans l’accompagnement ou l’inflexion de cette quête. Cet article a pour objet de donner des éléments de réponse sur le rôle du droit dans l’identification des objectifs, et dans le choix des outils de mesure en prenant comme illustration les relations entre biodiversité et agriculture. La thèse soutenue est que le droit est susceptible d’apporter une approche plus qualitative de la performance environnementale, laquelle sied particulièrement bien aux enjeux de protection de la biodiversité.
Abstract: Agricultural systems in the EU have become more vulnerable and less sustainable due to an overreliance on herbicides and the tremendous increase in herbicide-resistant weeds. The EU Green Deal aims to reduce the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030, although it is still undefined whether a reduction in herbicide use could be feasible in different farming systems and situations. This review aims to provide a holistic framework for sustainable crop and weed management to reduce the herbicide input and ensure crop protection. Current and future dilemmas and policies that need to be handled to ensure the agroecological transition of the EU’s agricultural systems are also discussed. The integration of non-chemical alternatives for integrated weed management is feasible and includes novel cultivation techniques (e.g., intercropping, false seedbed, reduced tillage, crop rotation and diversification, adjustments on sowing densities and dates), non-chemical tools (e.g., flaming, seed coating, beneficial microorganisms, mechanical weeding, biocontrol agents and natural herbicides), competitive plant material (hybrids and cultivars, cover crops, service crops), and new technologies and precision agriculture tools (e.g., Decision Support Systems, robots, remote sensing, UAVs, omics and nanotechnology). A special focus should be appointed to agroecology and biodiversity conservation.
Abstract: The conflict between capital-intensive agriculture, often called industrial agriculture, and sustainable farming is ongoing, and not because of Western European countries, where intensification is increasingly sustainable. It is caused by several million small farms in Central and Eastern Europe that must choose a long-term development path. This is also a dilemma for agricultural policy: Are small farms so environmentally friendly that they should play the role of ‘landscape guardians’ at the expense of public support and economic vegetation, or should they strive to improve productivity through investments? This study offers a methodological contribution to the value-based sustainability approach by computing indicators of environmental sustainable value (ESV). The authors have attempted to combine the value-oriented approach with frontier benchmarking. They then tested how the European Union Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) schemes contribute to ESV using a long-term panel of regionally representative farms from Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) with regard to factor endowments, for the years 2004–2017. The seminal within–between specification was employed to control the time variant and time invariant space heterogeneity of European regions. The main finding is that higher investment support is beneficial to ESV. Regarding factor endowment influence, there was a positive impact of the capital–labour ratio. Except the cross-sectional impact of environmental subsidies, the payments exert a negative effect on ESV.
Abstract: Concerns over the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in farmland have prompted the development of agri-environment policy measures aimed at reducing farming pressure and maintaining semi-natural habitats in farmed landscapes. However, further knowledge is needed to guarantee successful agri-environment measures implementation. The current study assessed the quantity and the quality of semi-natural habitats in farms across a gradient of farming intensities in two contrasting regions in Ireland. Policy protection seemed fundamental for semi-natural habitats preservation. Habitats not protected by agricultural policy relied on extensive farming and are in danger of disappearing if they are intensified or abandoned. Due to the lack of policy incentives for habitat quality, no correlations were found between farming intensity and share of semi-natural habitats with habitat quality. Therefore, extensive farming and retention of habitats alone may not reverse the decline of farmland quality and biodiverisity and, thus, measures incentivising the environmental quality may be more successful.
Résumé: Les indicateurs convergent sur le fait que la biodiversité s’effondre à l’échelle mondiale et que le phénomène s’accélère au cours de la période récente. Ce constat vaut aussi pour la France. Or, la biodiversité est le garant de biens et services irremplaçables, préservant la capacité de la nature à fournir nourriture, matières premières, médicaments, à nous protéger contre les risques naturels, à stocker du carbone, recycler des déchets, et à contribuer à la qualité de notre cadre de vie. Les principaux moteurs de la perte de biodiversité sont désormais bien identifiés : en France l’artificialisation des sols, la fragmentation des milieux naturels, des pratiques agricoles intensives, l’assèchement des zones humides sont des causes importantes.
Abstract: Low-intensity agriculture is important for the conservation of many European habitats and species. However, biodiverse farmlands—also referred to as high nature value (HNV) farmlands—are threatened by years of agricultural intensification and land abandonment. Considering the ongoing changes in land-cover—evident throughout Europe—it is important to assess how land transformation is affecting HNV farmlands. Here, we evaluate land-cover changes within HNV farmlands during 2006–2018. We find that HNV farmlands inside Natura 2000 sites are less likely than those outside to be converted to artificial surfaces and more likely to maintain mosaic farming. However, land transformation patterns vary between member states, suggesting that different processes are driving the land-cover changes within each state. We recommend that member states support HNV farmers by making a more effective use of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and that the EU prioritizes the protection of HNV farmlands during its next CAP reform post-2020.
Abstract: Farmland bird populations have declined sharply due to agricultural intensification. In Europe, these negative population trends have been linked to the loss of semi‐natural vegetation types, particularly fallow land. The work of Sanz‐Pérez et al. (2019) has far‐reaching implications for the conservation of farmland biodiversity. We argue that it supports a new paradigm for the understanding and management of fallows that should be integrated into the forthcoming post‐2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Following the abolition of mandatory set‐aside by the European Union in 2008, fallows declined steadily in Europe until 2015, when the CAP implemented greening measures. These restored the requirement to leave 5% of arable land as ecological focus areas (EFAs) to enhance biodiversity. While fallows are one of the most beneficial forms of EFA for farmland birds, farmers prefer the less conservation effective planting of nitrogen‐fixing and catch crops (currently more than 70% of EFAs). CAP incentives have been insufficient to make unproductive EFAs such as fallows more attractive to farmers. Sanz‐Pérez et al. (2019) evaluated the impact of different fallow land management practices on the abundance of specialist farmland birds. They concluded that extensive practices – such as tilling or shredding once or twice per year before the breeding season – were more beneficial to these declining species than leaving fallows unmanaged and recommended their incorporation into agri‐environment schemes. But such schemes have had low uptake, and thus a limited potential to drive the widespread recovery of farmland birds at either national or European levels. The post‐2020 CAP, currently under development, should integrate simple fallow management practices within new conditionalities or eco‐schemes to address this problem.