Environmental, Organizational, and Economic Implications for Agriculture in Areas With Different Share of the Natura 2000 Network

Abstract

The aim of the study is to assess environmental, organizational, and economic implications for agriculture in municipalities with different share of the Natura 2000 network in Poland. Data on the distribution of Natura 2000 sites and natural management conditions in municipalities are derived from the General Directorate for Environmental Protection and the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation State Research Institute for 2018. Data on the features of the organizational potential of agriculture across municipalities were collected from the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture. They were generated on the basis of applications for direct payments under the 2016 and 2021 campaigns submitted by 1345.2 and 1269.5 thousand farms, i.e., the beneficiaries of the 2014-2020 common agricultural policy (CAP), respectively. It was found that municipalities with a large and particularly large share of Natura 2000 areas, as compared to municipalities without such areas, were characterized by significantly worse management conditions and a more diverse landscape, as well as a larger share in agricultural area with extensive production characteristic of high nature value farmlands (HNVf) designated in Poland under the 2014-2020 CAP. Farms located in Natura 2000 areas, as compared to other farms, were characterized by a larger average agricultural area, as well as by lower labor inputs per 1 ha of agricultural area. They were characterized by lower total costs, including direct costs, which resulted in lower factor productivity and income per 1 ha of agricultural area. The conclusion was that they had less development opportunities.

Agriculture from Areas Facing Natural or Other Specific Constraints (ANCs) in Poland, Its Characteristics, Directions of Changes and Challenges in the Context of the European Green Deal

“…The structure of the APAV indicator includes such components as: soil quality, agroclimate, water conditions and land relief, and the weight of each of them is proportional to its impact on the yield of arable crops. The APAV indicator can reach a maximum of 120 points [55,56]. The analysis uses the latest update of it, which was used in the process of delimiting ANCs in 2019.…”

Farms and Their Holders Implementing Agri-Environment-Climate Measures

“…The ongoing climate changes have not only a negative impact on the production effects in agriculture and the biodiversity of agro-ecosystems. It is also important that the number of some wild animal species, including beneficial ones, is declining faster and even whole species are disappearing, and that similar phenomena also occur in the habitats of rare species of wild plants (World Economic Forum, 2021;Zieliński, 2022a). Lack of appropriate actions aimed at stopping such unfavorable phenomena and adapting to what is inevitable can reduce the standard of living of the human species (Shukla et al, 2019).…”

“…Zachodzące przemiany klimatu wywierają nie tylko negatywny wpływ na efekty produkcyjne rolnictwa i bioróżnorodność agroekosystemów. Ważne jest też to, że szybciej spada liczba osobników niektórych dzikich gatunków zwierząt, również tych pożytecznych, a nawet zanikają całe gatunki, oraz to, że analogiczne zjawiska zachodzą również w siedliskach rzadkich gatunków dzikich roślin (World Economic Forum, 2021;Zieliński, 2022a). Brak stosownych działań ukierunkowanych na powstrzymywanie tak niekorzystnych zjawisk i adaptacji do tego, co nieuchronne grozi obniżeniem standardu życia gatunku ludzkiego (Shukla i in., 2019).…”