Making the HNV farmland concept work

• Why not just maps?• Challenges

– getting meaningful stocking density information– dealing with real farmers

• A twin-track approach to the HNV issue

Why not just designate a HNV area?

• Maps often not detailed enough• Mapping takes time• Mapping is fixed in time or expensive to

repeat

• Farms which have a HNV system have higher costs and deliver higher benefits: they deserve to be identified as such

• In a systems approach farmers can opt in

Calculating stocking densities

• Livestock units

Calculating stocking densities

• Livestock units

• per ha (da) of farmed land– ALL farmed land not just UAA

Including common or communal land

Including land used informally or for less than one year

•must consider ACTUAL not legal ‘farmland’•must start by ignoring IACS rules

•e.g. forests•e.g. small parcels

Calculating stocking densities

• Livestock units

• per ha (da) of farmed land– ALL farmed land not just UAA

• we need first to understand how it really works• remember we will pay support on per ha basis!!!

Challenges• For Commission

– to recognise difficulties of aspects of policy and respond• e.g. IACS rules• e.g. intervention rate for Axis 1 measures

• For Ministries– fulfil spirit of CAP reform and Axis 2 of EAFRD– co-operate to overcome inst. barriers to achieving objectives– take more pro-active approach with Commission, co-operating with other

MS with similar issues

• For advisory services– to engage with HNV farmers– to have relevant message for HNV farmers

Meeting the challenge - a twin track approach

• Need locally-gathered information and tailoring of solutions

• Need national framework responding to local info and interacting with EU

• Need local implementation of both sensitive national measures and locally fine-tuned approaches

• programme has administrator, ecologist and farm advisor

• local analysis, tailored measures and monitoring• taking approach which can be translated into RDP• let down by lack of national responsiveness

For example:

BurrenLife project, Ireland