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Conservation grazing and its relationship to the Common Agricultural Policy
22. September 2022 @ 10:00 - 11:30
Conservationists tend to experience the Common Agricultural Policy as anathema to biodiversity in their work. But it can be worth the effort to take a closer look.
Many practitioners of pastoralism and extensive grazing, such as cattle farmers, don’t have access to European Union subsidies from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) when their livestock is grazing in protected areas.
This webinar will present practical examples of conservation grazing as an agricultural activity and farmers’ eligibility for financial support like area-based income payments. We will also discuss the discrepancies between the CAP objectives and conservation grazing and argue why the European member states should adopt broader definitions of grasslands, including scrublands, wood pastures, and other grazed habitats, as eligible for CAP subsidies.
For this webinar, we have the following speakers:
- Dr Guy Pe’er, who has contributed to the GrazeLife Project. He will focus on the practical aspects of conservation grazing and its relationship to the CAP, including discrepancies and mismatches between the EU’s agricultural policies and its conservation policies.
- Dr Julia Roudet-Leduc, who will present the ecosystem services that conservation grazing can contribute to. Based on interviews by the Grazelife project from almost 100 land users, she will also present specific practices for ‘good grazing’, and common challenges
- Jure Cus, who will discuss the Slovenian experience with respect to harmonizing the CAP regulations with grassland management requirements in Natura 2000 sites, and how farmers will have a viable economic perspective notwithstanding the restrictions imposed on their land by Natura 2000
Register here.