Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 8
The Use of Regional Typologies
in the Assessment of Farms' Performance
Ida J. Terluin, David Verhoog, and Frans E. Godeschalk
Introduction
In SEAMLESS a farm typology based on economic size, farming intensity,
specialization and land use has been designed (Andersen et al.
2006)
. It builds upon
the EU farm typology, that has already been in use for presenting and assessing the
situation in the agricultural sector in the EU since the 1970s (Andersen et al.
2007)
.
This EU farm typology classifies holdings according to their main source of income.
As such, its rationale is exclusively economic. As a result of the subsequent
CAP reforms (Mac Sharry reform, Agenda 2000 and CAP 2003 reform) and the
Health Check (2008), the original scope of market and price support of the CAP
has widened to support for the enhancement and protection of natural resources
and landscapes, and rural viability. Given these changes, an extension of the
EU farm typology by an environmental rationale - like conducted in the SEAMLESS
farm typology - could create a typology, that might serve as a tool for the
monitoring and assessment of the economic and environmental performance of
farms under the reformed CAP.
In the SEAMLESS farm typology it is aimed to classify all EU farms in groups
that are homogeneous in their economic and environmental performance (Andersen
et al.
2006)
. By doing so, the SEAMLESS farm typology builds upon previous
studies, in which alternative typologies have been tested on limited groups of farms,
like the project European Livestock Policy Evaluation Network (ELPEN) (Andersen
et al.
2004)
, the project aiming to identify farms managing High Nature Value
farmland (Andersen et al.
2003
and EEA/UNEP
2004)
, and the IRENA indicator
project on the development of farming in the EU15 (EEA
2005)
. For classifying
farms, four differentiating dimensions were used in the SEAMLESS farm typology.
