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A larger share of farming subsidies from the EU budget should be used to support climate and biodiversity-friendly agriculture in Germany, the country鈥檚 federal agriculture ministry (BMEL) has proposed, but its suggestions have been met with doubts and criticism from both farmers and environmentalists. The ministry wants to use 20 percent of the money from direct payments to farmers on a hectare basis in so-called eco-schemes 鈥� environmental protection measures that farmers can follow voluntarily in order to receive extra funds. 20 percent (900 million euros per year in Germany鈥檚 case) for this purpose is the minimum amount decided by the European Council at the end of 2020, with the European Parliament opting for a minimum of 30 percent.

鈥淭he aim is for agriculture to make an even greater contribution to environmental, climate and species protection and thus to preserving its own economic basis,鈥� agriculture minister Julia Kl枚ckner said in the beginning of March when the were first announced. However, her critics from environmental NGOs NABU, BUND, Greenpeace and WWF Germany the plan rushed and said its ambition level 鈥渋n no way meets the challenges facing agriculture in this decade and clearly contradicts the goals of the European Green Deal.鈥�

EU lawmakers have not made a final decision yet on the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) from which the funds for the farming subsidies in member states are disbursed, with negotiating parties differing widely in some areas and the process expected to continue well into the second quarter of 2021.

Kl枚ckner鈥檚 early proposal therefore risked Germany getting into trouble before the EU Court of Justice, the NGO鈥檚 . On using 20 percent of CAP funds from the direct payment pillar towards eco-schemes, they said: 鈥淭here is still far too little money to specifically promote concrete agri-environmental and climate services. This means that farmers cannot make the contributions to biodiversity and climate protection that many of them would like to make鈥�.

Germany receives around euros per year from the EU鈥檚 Common Agricultural Policy, which will enter a new funding cycle as of 2023. The multiannual budget for the next funding period (running till 2027) will amount to , around 26 percent of the EU鈥檚 total budget. With its 2020 Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies, the European Commission has pledged to decrease the carbon footprint of the food system and make farming more sustainable. With the new CAP, Farm to Fork objectives, such as farming 25 percent of EU agricultural land organically or lowering fertiliser use by 20 percent, should determine the way subsidies to farmers are allocated.

In addition to the eco-schemes, the ministry鈥檚 CAP plan stipulates that 鈥渁t least three percent of arable land must be set aside by farmers as non-productive land or landscape elements鈥� and no conversion of permanent grasslands may occur in peatlands and wetlands. This applies to all farming operations receiving CAP funds (so-called enhanced conditionality).

Eight percent of funds from the first pillar of the CAP (direct payments per hectare) will be shifted to the second pillar (previously 6%), where it is used, inter alia, to promote organic farming. The 400 million euros per year will be used by the German states for the 鈥減romotion of climate and environmental protection measures, strengthening competitiveness and rural areas,鈥� the ministry .

Farmers鈥� association the ministry had failed to adequately harness the opportunity of eco-schemes 鈥� using 20 percent of pillar 1 funds towards them was not sufficient to meet the ecological and economic challenges of farmers. An annually increasing level of these funds, starting percent, would be needed. They also said that important eco-schemes, such as rewarding reduced pesticide and mineral fertiliser use and small-scale farming, had not been included.

A for NGO Germanwatch by the Institute for Applied Ecology (脰办辞-滨苍蝉迟颈迟耻迟) suggested that significant greenhouse gas reductions could only be achieved by eco-schemes that tackle livestock farming, i.e. linking the number of especially ruminants to the forage area.

Farmers鈥� association DBV welcomed the eco-schemes as proposed by the ministry but the increased shifting of funds from the first to the second pillar of the CAP as something that would 鈥渨eaken鈥� farming operations and cause more red tape.

NGO Environmental Action Germany (DUH) said the draft law of the agriculture ministry is 鈥渂ackward-looking and does not provide effective instruments for more climate and species protection.鈥� The DUH criticised that large, industrial farming operations would continue to receive 鈥渇lat-rate subsidies.鈥� 鈥淲ith the draft law, the national obligations for climate and species protection as well as for air pollution control and water protection in agriculture cannot be met,鈥� DUH director Sascha M眉ller-Kraenner .

The final version of the CAP 2023-2027 is still wanting, but negotiations between the European Council, Commission and Parliament (trilogue) are expected to come to a head in the next weeks.

In Germany, the federal agriculture minister will hold talks with her counterparts from the states on 17 March and wants to present her draft bill for the CAP strategic plan to the government cabinet on 24 March. In the meantime, the EU Agriculture Council (agriculture ministers of the member states) will meet on 22 and 23 March, after which the three-party negotiations between EU lawmakers will continue.

To receive funding in the next budget period, all member states have to submit so-called that detail how they are planning to implement the CAP rules, something made rather more difficult if the text from the EU has not been completed, AbL . The draft law presented by the ministry includes Germany鈥檚 CAP strategic plan. It will have to be passed by the German parliament, which the agriculture ministry expects to happen before the summer break. The final plan must be submitted to the European Commission before 1 January 2022.