OO. 4c.2 Enhance and encourage the role of farmers as biodiversity actors

The role of farmers as actors for biodiversity protection through implementation of good farming practices and technologies should be encouraged. Farmers play a key role in agro-ecosystems, protecting and enhancing the environment, biodiversity, natural resources, soil and genetic diversity (for instance, crop rotation, organic farming and set-aside of small land parcels) and maintaining the landscape and the countryside (for instance, maintenance of open environments, management of linear and small landscape features, ecological compen-sation areas*). In several areas, semi-natural habitats can be preserved only if appropriate farming activities are continued.

Apart from the principle that farmers should observe a minimum level of environmental standards (cross-compliance) as a condition for the full granting of the CAP direct payments, the CAP provides financial incentives called "agri-environmental measures" within the framework of the rural development policy (see also 4c.4). These measures support specific farming practices that go beyond the baseline level of "Good Farming Practice²⁴" (GFP) and help to protect the environment and maintain the countryside.

Farmers who commit themselves, for a five-year minimum period, to adopt environmentally-friendly farming techniques that go beyond usual good farming practice, receive in return payments that compensate for additional costs and loss of income that arise as a result of altered farming practices. Examples of commitments covered by regional agri-environmental schemes are: environmentally favourable extensification of farming; management of low-intensity pasture systems; integrated farm management and organic agriculture; preservation of landscape and historical features such as hedgerows, ditches and woods; conservation of high-value habitats and their associated biodiversity.

This operational objective complements the previous one, by targeting the development of clear and detailed guidance at exactly what farmers should do to implement cross-compliance criteria and agri-environmental measures. This could be achieved for example through the establishment of guidelines that will provide an easy and understandable way of getting information across given that the wording of CAP reform is rather complex. Continuous appropriate education of and the provision of information to farmers, farm contractors, agriculture advisers and teachers in agricultural colleges are crucial. For instance, guidebooks, workshops, conferences, publications and information campaigns could address the following issues: soil management best practices, impacts of pesticides on wild fauna, the establishment of set-aside strips and their appropriate management, importance of the preservation of notable indigenous farmland trees and other small landscape elements, the protection of breeding wildlife and nests in pasture and fields, the protection of ponds and rivers from pollution from manure, etc.