A meeting of the AGRI Committee took place on Wednesday, 24 February 2021 with Mr. Daniel Buda (EPP, RO), Vice-Chair of the Committee, replacing Mr Norbert Lins (EPP, DE) in the Chair for the afternoon session.
Point 9 of the meeting’s agenda was dedicated to a presentation of a Policy Department B study on the “Challenge of Land Abandonment after 2020 and options for mitigating measures” which was presented by Dr. Bernd SCHUH (ÖIR – Austrian Institute for Regional Studies and Spatial Planning. Austria) and Dr. Thomas DAX (Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research (BAB), Austria).
The main conclusions of the study:
- Around 30% (circa 56 million ha) of agricultural areas in the EU are under at least a moderate risk of land abandonment. Effective agricultural land abandonment in the EU-27 might total 5 million ha by 2030, or 2,9 % of the current Utilised Agricultural Area.
- Land abandonment is a local phenomenon with a complex set of drivers involving bio-physical, farming, structural, market, regional, institutional and policy factors. Management issues and structural adaptation are the key driving forces affecting this process.
- Harmful effects of land abandonment might threaten the future of semi-natural habitats. However, under specific conditions and in certain phases of the abandonment process, beneficial outcomes might be observed.
- While CAP policy tools can help mitigate land abandonment, their impact on land use changes, production concentration and abandonment trends differs between farm types and production groups.
Further reading: The challenge of land abandonment after 2020 and options for mitigating measures
Presentation:
Watch video of the event (with multilingual interpretation):
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