Ausgestaltung der Ökoregelungen in Deutschland – Stellungnahmen für das BMEL : Band 4 – Zweite Schätzung des Budgetbedarfes auf Basis der im GAPDZG festgelegten Ökoregelungen in Abhängigkeit von verschiedenen Optionen zur Ausgestaltung

With the current reform of the Common agricultural policy (CAP), the EU aims to increase in particular the contribution of the agricultural sector to the protection of the climate, the environment and biodiversity in addition to income support. Therefore, the income support of the first pillar will be linked to compliance with 'extended conditionalities' and supplementary Eco-schemes will be introduced in the CAP’s first pillar from 01.01.2023 on. Farmers will receive additional payments if they participate voluntarily in the Eco-schemes. Furthermore, the EU wants to increase the flexibility of the agricultural policy and tailor it better to the needs of the different member states. For this purpose, the member states have to develop national CAP strategic plans and specify, among other, the Eco-schemes. The BMEL in consultation with the federal states and stakeholders has developed the national strategic plan including proposals for the design of the Eco-schemes. During the preparation of the draft for the German CAP strategic plan, the Thünen Institute was commissioned to assess the economic implications of the Eco-schemes. Beside the question of implementation costs on farm level, this includes especially the analyses of the potential uptake and budget-ary implications of the different measures given varying payment levels. For the evaluation of the ecological impacts of the proposed Eco-schemes, the Instituts für Ländliche Strukturforschung (IflS) lead consortium in charge of the ex-ante evaluation of the German CAP strategic plan was consulted. The ex-ante evaluation was understood as an ac-companying and supporting process during the development of the national strategic plan. The subject of the evaluation is derived from the specific objectives set out in Art. 6 No. 1 (d), (e) and (f) of the CAP Strategic Plan Regulation. Furthermore, questions of effectiveness, efficiency and consistency are addressed in the context of the overall green architecture. In volume 4 of Thünen Working Papers 180 we analyse the effects of different options for the design and the premium levels of the planned eco-schemes on the expected uptake and the required budget. In particular, we consider scenarios with different premium levels for the eco-scheme “crop rotation with leguminous crops” in combination with alternative specifications regarding the eligibility of fallow land as a crop. In addition, we examine the influence of selected assumptions on the expected uptake of other eco-schemes, and discuss other important factors and uncertainties influencing the expected uptake of individual eco-schemes.