Agricultural Economics Society Workshop

Lessons from the Past & Suggestions for Future Design of Agri-Environment Schemes

Workshop at the 91^st Annual Conference of the Agricultural Economics Society, R.D.S., Dublin, Ireland

Since the mid-1990s, Agri-Environment Schemes (AES) have made up a large proportion of the financial supports provided to EU farmers through the Rural Development Programme (RDP). Over this period, these schemes have changed significantly in response to changing policy objectives, environmental concerns and sustainability challenges. This session brought together multi-disciplinary experts from the areas of agricultural economics, ecology, agri-environment policy and agricultural extension to share their experiences in relation to past and current AES and to look at potential future policy directions and the challenges and benefits that these might bring. The speakers addressed issues such as scheme participation, environmental outputs, transaction costs, complexity of schemes, administrative burden along with the monitoring and evaluation of AES, in order to draw lessons in relation to future policy design.

Chair: Dr Mary Ryan, Teagasc, Ireland.

Speakers:

• Dr Pierre Dupraz, Senior Researcher, INRA, France
  Agri-Environmental Scheme objectives and evaluation (PDF)
• Dr James Moran, Ecology Lecturer, GMIT, Ireland 
  Design of Results Based Agri-Environment Schemes (PDF)
• Ronan O’Flaherty, Senior Policymaker, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland
  From Actions to Results – The shifting focus of Agri Environment Schemes (PDF)
• Pat Murphy, Head of Environment Knowledge Transfer, Teagasc, Ireland 
  Role of Knowledge Transfer in Agri-Environment Schemes (PDF)

Rapporteur:

• Prof Cathal O’Donoghue, Dean of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies, NUIG, Ireland 

Posters:

• Paula Cullen, Walsh Fellow, Teagasc & NUIG, Ireland 
  Farmer Attitudes to Farming, the Environment and Agri-Environment Schemes (PDF)
• Robert O’Shea, Walsh Fellow, Teagasc & UCD, Ireland
  Exploring the decision processes of Irish farmers in the adoption of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mitigation options (PDF)