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Is Passive Farming A Problem for Agriculture in the EU?

Brady, Mark V. LU orcid ; Hristov, Jordan LU ; Sahrbacher, Christoph ; Söderberg, Torben and Wilhelmsson, Fredrik LU (2017) In Journal of Agricultural Economics 68(3). p.632-650
Abstract

We address a new agricultural policy concern following the decoupling of CAP direct payments in 2005: passive farming, whereby landowners maintain their agricultural area to collect payments without producing commodities. It is claimed that passive farming is hindering agricultural development by 'blocking' access to farmland for expanding farmers. We evaluate the links between the EU's Single Payment Scheme (SPS), passive farming, land use and agricultural development. Following identification of the rational landowners' optimal land-use choice, we evaluate the effects of the SPS using a spatial, agent-based model that simulates farmers' competition for land in a case-study region of Sweden. We show that passive farming does not... (More)

We address a new agricultural policy concern following the decoupling of CAP direct payments in 2005: passive farming, whereby landowners maintain their agricultural area to collect payments without producing commodities. It is claimed that passive farming is hindering agricultural development by 'blocking' access to farmland for expanding farmers. We evaluate the links between the EU's Single Payment Scheme (SPS), passive farming, land use and agricultural development. Following identification of the rational landowners' optimal land-use choice, we evaluate the effects of the SPS using a spatial, agent-based model that simulates farmers' competition for land in a case-study region of Sweden. We show that passive farming does not constrain land from being used in production; on the contrary more land is used than would be the case without the SPS. We conclude that passive farming is not a problem for agriculture, but provides public goods that would otherwise be under provided: preservation of marginal farmland and future food security. However SPS payments on highly productive land inflate land values (capitalisation) and slow structural change, which hinder agricultural development. Consequently CAP goals could be better served by targeting payments on marginal land and phasing out payments to highly productive land.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
CAP, Decoupling, Development, Fallow, Land use, Policy, Single Payment Scheme
in
Journal of Agricultural Economics
volume
68
issue
3
pages
632 - 650
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000409236800002
  • scopus:85020738323
ISSN
0021-857X
DOI
10.1111/1477-9552.12224
project
Rural development through governance of multifunctional agricultural land-use
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3b3d7dbd-78d5-416f-ab5e-62b9b13ac63c
date added to LUP
2017-07-05 08:57:36
date last changed
2024-10-28 09:25:19
@article{3b3d7dbd-78d5-416f-ab5e-62b9b13ac63c,
  abstract     = {{<p>We address a new agricultural policy concern following the decoupling of CAP direct payments in 2005: passive farming, whereby landowners maintain their agricultural area to collect payments without producing commodities. It is claimed that passive farming is hindering agricultural development by 'blocking' access to farmland for expanding farmers. We evaluate the links between the EU's Single Payment Scheme (SPS), passive farming, land use and agricultural development. Following identification of the rational landowners' optimal land-use choice, we evaluate the effects of the SPS using a spatial, agent-based model that simulates farmers' competition for land in a case-study region of Sweden. We show that passive farming does not constrain land from being used in production; on the contrary more land is used than would be the case without the SPS. We conclude that passive farming is not a problem for agriculture, but provides public goods that would otherwise be under provided: preservation of marginal farmland and future food security. However SPS payments on highly productive land inflate land values (capitalisation) and slow structural change, which hinder agricultural development. Consequently CAP goals could be better served by targeting payments on marginal land and phasing out payments to highly productive land.</p>}},
  author       = {{Brady, Mark V. and Hristov, Jordan and Sahrbacher, Christoph and Söderberg, Torben and Wilhelmsson, Fredrik}},
  issn         = {{0021-857X}},
  keywords     = {{CAP; Decoupling; Development; Fallow; Land use; Policy; Single Payment Scheme}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{632--650}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Journal of Agricultural Economics}},
  title        = {{Is Passive Farming A Problem for Agriculture in the EU?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.12224}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/1477-9552.12224}},
  volume       = {{68}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}