ABSTRACT
Introduction The effectiveness of agri-environmental programs (policy interventions designed to improve environmental performance on farms and rural landscapes) is a continuing policy issue in all developed nations. However, it is especially difficult to accumulate inter-country comparisons and capitalize on experiences with policy implementation. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize the literature and the debate over agri-environmental program effectiveness in the European Union (EU) and the United States. Closer attention will then be given to examples in the northeastern United States and Germany. Of particular concern, especially in the context of evolving World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, are arrangements for blending regulatory and compensatory incentives for providing environmental goods and services on farms and in rural communities. In the EU, and especially in Germany, current agri-environmental efforts are not cost-effectively related to effects on the environment (see analysis of Société Oréade-Brèche 2005). Considering future prospects for the EU system of payments to farmers, solutions are needed to enlarge the budget for agrienvironmental payments, to better target them and to motivate farmers to promote sustainability. New approaches should include concepts that combine environmental planning that targets agri-environmental measures (referred to throughout this chapter as “AEM”), alternative models of remuneration and advisory schemes that better integrate environmental services into the technical assistance provided for farm operators. While EU agri-environmental schemes were introduced in the early 1990s, the US effort to improve environmental management on farms dates back to the 1930s and concerns with rain and wind erosion. After World War II, US conservation policy evolved into two distinct tracks:
1 soil erosion/water quality management; and 2 farmland protection (maintenance of farmland in its current use).
