Modernising payment for rural development
Rural development has been a long-standing priority of the EU and has benefited from strong financial support over the last two decades. The EU-funded project Agrigrid developed methodological grids that facilitate payment and payment policies in many different cases. These include agri-environment measures, Natura 2000 payments, compensatory allowances, animal welfare and forestry measures. The project conducted case studies in several EU countries and regions with varying agronomic and environmental conditions. It collected information related to the farming sector, such as natural conditions, production and agronomic characteristics, assessing data requirements and availability of data as well. Moreover, Agrigrid investigated all related research and development measures, linking them to existing methods for payment calculations to help develop the grids. New grids were tested in regional case studies in different countries, including the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Finland and the United Kingdom. The trial runs involved government agencies and policymakers in these regions, representing stakeholders who can use the grids to calculate payments related to different rural development measures. This harmonised yet flexible method of calculation can also be used by EU officials, allowing them to use the same language as government stakeholders and policymakers. Thorough testing of the grid in completely different environments, from the highlands of Scotland to the Greek islands, has the potential to upgrade communication, improve funding and support overall rural development in Europe.
