Periodic Reporting for period 3 - EFFECT (Environmental public goods From Farming through Effective Contract Targeting)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-05-01 do 2023-10-31
Food security concerns from a growing global population, rising demand for low-impact diets and environmental quality of the countryside put multiple conflicting pressures on land resources and management. Meeting environmental and climate targets is one of the most pressing European policy issues. Agriculture is a key sector and the EU Common Agricultural Policy needs to better reflect these challenges.
EFFECT aims to develop more effective agri-environmental schemes (AES) by developing new forms of contracts between farmers and agri-environmental agencies or other actors. We study the institutional context in which contracts are developed and negotiated, the environmental and economic efficiency of alternative contract forms and farmers’ motivation and incentives to participate.
EFFECT aims to:
- synthesize evidence and draw lessons from past and ongoing initiatives, contract arrangements and collaboration forms
- co-develop new contract arrangements via a multi-actor process, to overcome barriers to adoption of more effective programmes
- identify institutional and organizational enablers and barriers for uptake of new forms of contracts in different policy and implementation contexts
- identify key ecological and economic features that co-determine whether contracts fostering environmentally friendly practices or environmental outcomes are most effective
- develop contract mechanisms that foster uptake and coordination amongst farmers and identify ecological, economic, social and institutional factors making individual or collective contracts more effective
- test innovative contractual arrangements among nine selected European contract innovation cases
This will result in a set of innovative agri-environmental contract frameworks likely to be effective in different European agri-environmental contexts.
EFFECT aims to develop more effective agri-environmental schemes (AES) by developing new forms of contracts between farmers and agri-environmental agencies or other actors. We study the institutional context in which contracts are developed and negotiated, the environmental and economic efficiency of alternative contract forms and farmers’ motivation and incentives to participate.
EFFECT aims to:
- synthesize evidence and draw lessons from past and ongoing initiatives, contract arrangements and collaboration forms
- co-develop new contract arrangements via a multi-actor process, to overcome barriers to adoption of more effective programmes
- identify institutional and organizational enablers and barriers for uptake of new forms of contracts in different policy and implementation contexts
- identify key ecological and economic features that co-determine whether contracts fostering environmentally friendly practices or environmental outcomes are most effective
- develop contract mechanisms that foster uptake and coordination amongst farmers and identify ecological, economic, social and institutional factors making individual or collective contracts more effective
- test innovative contractual arrangements among nine selected European contract innovation cases
This will result in a set of innovative agri-environmental contract frameworks likely to be effective in different European agri-environmental contexts.
EFFECT has improved the understanding agri-environmental contracting through the following achievements.
Identified the main factors influencing effectiveness of voluntary AES across EU study cases. Stakeholders identified eight common issues to be the main challenges in designing effective AES. Contract length, contract flexibility, contract administration, contract implementation, payments, collaboration, trust, and extension and advice. While the challenges are common, the solutions varied to a large extent. Co-learning labs were proven to be effective tools for knowledge sharing across diverse European farming contexts. Specifically, EFFECT developed co-learning labs on eco-scheme implementation across the EU, rules and practice related to payment calculations of AES, and the experiences with collective contracting in practice.
Delivered novel insights on how institutional contexts enable or hamper provision of ecosystem services. Identified a large scope for improved implementation of new AES. While the opportunities for more successful implementation vary extensively across environmental policy areas, it was possible to highlight three success criteria, which could increase the likelihood of uptake. These criteria are; facilitates knowledge exchange, flexibility in implementation, and (farmer) inclusion in the design process.
Combined economic and ecological knowledge to elicit how different contract forms affect the joint production of agricultural and environmental goods. We analysed participation and performance in voluntary AES using state-of-the-art impact evaluation methodologies. Targeted analysis at national scale has identified factors affecting economic and environmental performance. We developed a novel technique to test eco-efficiency based on Data Envelope Analysis and used integrated ecological-economic modelling to simulate performance of potential AES. Scientific papers testing this approach in a biodiversity and water quality context we have also conducted empirical tests of result-based schemes in selected case studies. The results indicate the hybrid schemes are potentially more effective as they combine features of both result and action based schemes, while avoiding the main limitations of both.
Created new empirical evidence on the incentives to participate in AES and how contract types and alternative designs of incentive mechanisms impact scheme uptake and landholders’ effort. Methods to analyse different forms of collective and individual contracting was developed and used to identify incentive mechanisms to effectively encourage spatial coordination for higher environmental performance. Developed novel designs of economic experiments and discrete choice experiments to identify effective contract design. In particular, the research has improved the current evidence on the potential of spatial coordination incentives. The work has proven that the landscape context is critical for success of spatial incentives mechanisms.
Synthesis of lessons learned showed how contract arrangements can be tailored to different agri-environmental, institutional and socio-economic contexts. Our review of lessons learned from using AES in the CAP highlighted that rigorous environmental impact analysis is not common practice. Existing evidence suggests that the environmental impact of the AES has been limited. Furthermore, a systematic review of the scientific underpinning of the AES literature and coordinated targeted reviews of collective contracts and motivations to participate in AES, has provided an overview of knowledge on key topics.
EFFECT has completed nine in-depth case studies have been implemented across diverse agroecological contexts and diverse policy settings.
An integrated, impact-driven communication and dissemination strategy has been implemented, using tools and channels targeting multiple stakeholders, to raise awareness and foster acceptance. Impact monitoring tools show an above average communication effectiveness for EFFECT in the online community.
Identified the main factors influencing effectiveness of voluntary AES across EU study cases. Stakeholders identified eight common issues to be the main challenges in designing effective AES. Contract length, contract flexibility, contract administration, contract implementation, payments, collaboration, trust, and extension and advice. While the challenges are common, the solutions varied to a large extent. Co-learning labs were proven to be effective tools for knowledge sharing across diverse European farming contexts. Specifically, EFFECT developed co-learning labs on eco-scheme implementation across the EU, rules and practice related to payment calculations of AES, and the experiences with collective contracting in practice.
Delivered novel insights on how institutional contexts enable or hamper provision of ecosystem services. Identified a large scope for improved implementation of new AES. While the opportunities for more successful implementation vary extensively across environmental policy areas, it was possible to highlight three success criteria, which could increase the likelihood of uptake. These criteria are; facilitates knowledge exchange, flexibility in implementation, and (farmer) inclusion in the design process.
Combined economic and ecological knowledge to elicit how different contract forms affect the joint production of agricultural and environmental goods. We analysed participation and performance in voluntary AES using state-of-the-art impact evaluation methodologies. Targeted analysis at national scale has identified factors affecting economic and environmental performance. We developed a novel technique to test eco-efficiency based on Data Envelope Analysis and used integrated ecological-economic modelling to simulate performance of potential AES. Scientific papers testing this approach in a biodiversity and water quality context we have also conducted empirical tests of result-based schemes in selected case studies. The results indicate the hybrid schemes are potentially more effective as they combine features of both result and action based schemes, while avoiding the main limitations of both.
Created new empirical evidence on the incentives to participate in AES and how contract types and alternative designs of incentive mechanisms impact scheme uptake and landholders’ effort. Methods to analyse different forms of collective and individual contracting was developed and used to identify incentive mechanisms to effectively encourage spatial coordination for higher environmental performance. Developed novel designs of economic experiments and discrete choice experiments to identify effective contract design. In particular, the research has improved the current evidence on the potential of spatial coordination incentives. The work has proven that the landscape context is critical for success of spatial incentives mechanisms.
Synthesis of lessons learned showed how contract arrangements can be tailored to different agri-environmental, institutional and socio-economic contexts. Our review of lessons learned from using AES in the CAP highlighted that rigorous environmental impact analysis is not common practice. Existing evidence suggests that the environmental impact of the AES has been limited. Furthermore, a systematic review of the scientific underpinning of the AES literature and coordinated targeted reviews of collective contracts and motivations to participate in AES, has provided an overview of knowledge on key topics.
EFFECT has completed nine in-depth case studies have been implemented across diverse agroecological contexts and diverse policy settings.
An integrated, impact-driven communication and dissemination strategy has been implemented, using tools and channels targeting multiple stakeholders, to raise awareness and foster acceptance. Impact monitoring tools show an above average communication effectiveness for EFFECT in the online community.
Our impact-oriented approach to AES contracts implied a focus on distilling what likely works and what doesn’t. In addition to economics, we have drawn on political science and law, to better understand how the institutional, legal and social context influence the acceptance, longevity and effective design and implementation. Ecological expertise has allowed a critical evaluation of the use of indicators for compliance monitoring, result monitoring and impact evaluation.
Furthermore, EFFECT made a strong contribution to evaluation of cost-effectiveness of agri-environmental policies to understand and balance the trade-offs between different design options.
EFFECT has utilised both integrated ecological-economic models, modern impact evaluation techniques and experimental economic approaches in real-word governance contexts. EFFECT research has successfully contributed to current the science-policy debates on water quality, climate change and biodiversity.
We have illustrated how experiments can be used to challenge and improve conventional contractual designs. We have also shown that integrated environmental-economic modelling can be a useful tool to illustrate trade-offs in AES design. The case studies have demonstrated that huge benefits can result from improved AES. Significant water quality gains, enhanced biodiversity conservation and improved basis for provision of pollination services have been demonstrated. Using such models as tools for policy development can reduce the risk of poorly designed schemes going forward.
Furthermore, EFFECT made a strong contribution to evaluation of cost-effectiveness of agri-environmental policies to understand and balance the trade-offs between different design options.
EFFECT has utilised both integrated ecological-economic models, modern impact evaluation techniques and experimental economic approaches in real-word governance contexts. EFFECT research has successfully contributed to current the science-policy debates on water quality, climate change and biodiversity.
We have illustrated how experiments can be used to challenge and improve conventional contractual designs. We have also shown that integrated environmental-economic modelling can be a useful tool to illustrate trade-offs in AES design. The case studies have demonstrated that huge benefits can result from improved AES. Significant water quality gains, enhanced biodiversity conservation and improved basis for provision of pollination services have been demonstrated. Using such models as tools for policy development can reduce the risk of poorly designed schemes going forward.