Policy Briefing #29. Agroforestry and Permanent Grassland definitions in EU Member States

This Briefing focuses on the flexibility allowed to Member States to define permanent grassland to “include other species such as trees and/or shrubs which produce animal feed”.  This option has not been selected by 15 administrations (AT, BE-F, CZ, DK, EE, HU, HR, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL, SK, SI). Six administrations include the tree/shrub definition but on only part of their territories (BE-W, DE, FR, IT, PT, SE). Three administrations (BG, FI, RO) implement the definition over all their territory, but only if herbaceous vegetation “remains predominant”.  Three administrations  (EL, ES, IE) implement the tree/shrub option over their entire territory even if herbaceous vegetation is not predominant, and a final administration (CY) remains uncertain. Use of this flexibility by Member States is very important to farmers, since it determines their eligibility for CAP-Pillar-1 Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS). Eurostat gives a land-cover (Corine/LUCAS) estimate of the area of PG in EU-27 of 54 Mha and land-use (FSS) of 48 Mha.  High-resolution land-use information will become increasingly important as payments for environmental services, carbon farming and emission trading become an established part of farm incomes.