Impacts of the CAP’s environmental policy instruments on farm structures, agricultural incomes and public goods

We examined farmers’ costs of providing public goods under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the expected impacts of the 2015 CAP “greening” reform on regional development and provisioning of public goods. Less than half of CAP spending Before the reform was justifiable in terms of the delivery of specific public goods; and predicted benefits from greening are low. We recommend re-allocating support to targeted and landscape-scale payments, better matching the financing of public goods with the beneficiaries and re-considering greening.