KAZALCI OKOLJA

Key message
Good

The area included in the implementation of agri-environmental measures has been strongly increased after 1999 and in 2008 covered 323,043 ha (gross), or 247,420 ha (net). The share of area with one or several agri-environmental measures (net) in the period 1999-2008 has increased from 0.6 % to 50.2 % of all utilised agricultural area.


The indicator presents the area included in the implementation of agri-environmental measures in Slovenia and the EU in the period 1999-2008. It shows area which obtained support for the implementation of individual environmental measures in line with the regulations on the implementation of agricultural policy in a particular year. Since many different agri-environmental measures can be implemented on one and the same area, the basic information is the gross area. The relative aggregate indicator is the share of area subject to these measures in the total utilised agricultural area. In calculating the relative indicator, data on net area is used (without doubling those where several measures are being applied), which is comparable with the definition used for calculating the indicator within the EU. This indicator does not provide direct information on the environmental efficiency of measures. It shows, however, the response of agricultural holdings to agricultural policy supporting the environment-friendly production methods.


Charts

Figure KM03-1: Area under agri-environment support in Slovenia
Sources:

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of the Republic of Slovenia, 2009; Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, 2009.

Show data
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Gross UAA under agri-environmental measures ha 2948 6299 90486 111753 134174 235254 273592 285136 328364 323043.2
Net UAA under agri-environmental measures ha 2948 6299 90486 177682 203648 215268 241291 247420
Organic farming ha 355 3010 8330 11762 16275 15478 20477 24446 26496 26690.5
Integrated production, crop rotation, greening ha 2593 3289 7957 12975 15799 68529 99375 108214 133727 136538.3
Protection against erosion in orchards and vineyards ha - - - - - 304 282 228 151 151.6
Crop rotation stabilisation ha - - 328 1539 1794 6961 12988 12732 17623 18072.4
Greening of arable land ha - - - 2722 4245 25826 40952 46209 60152 60172.5
Permanent green cover in groundwater protected areas ha - - - - 7 463 1199 1020 1084 861.2
Integrated arable crop production ha - - - - - 24343 31692 35692 41565 44294.6
Integrated fruit production ha 2416 2955 3074 2812 3221 3180 3406 3200 3540 3414.6
Integrated vine production ha - - 4107 5334 5875 6563 7922 8118 8636 8615.8
Integrated horticulture ha 177 334 448 568 657 889 930 1009 976 955.6
Grassing and green fallow ha - - - - - 0 4 6 - -
Lanscape and biodiversity enhancement ha - - 74199 87016 102100 151247 153740 152476 168141 159814.5
Revitalisation of agricultural land ha - - 487 145 31 - - - - -
Mauntain pastures ha - - 9744 9263 7290 8857 7989 5778 6496 5778.5
Steep slopes mowing ha - - - - - 25466 23477 22926 25267 25069.7
Humpy meadows mowing ha - - - - - 23 35 12 26 27.5
Meadow orchards ha - - 344 472 519 692 677 663 879 836.8
Sustainable animal breeding ha - - 63624 66753 75602 83515 93416 96156 104975 101280.2
Restructuring of animal husbandry in the central areas of appearance of large cornivores ha - - - 10383 14485 13010 8033 8230 9204 7635.1
Extensive grassland maintanance ha - - - - 4173 14954 13632 12479 14369 13025.7
Preservation of special grassland habitats ha - - - - - 171 546 720 602 627.7
Bird conservation in humid extensive meadows in Natura 2000 sites ha - - - - - - - - 308 316.7
Preservation of litter meadows ha - - - - - - - - 21 25.5
Preservation of grassland habitats of butterflies ha - - - - - - - - 113 120.1
Production of traditional and regionally rare agricultural plants ha - - - - - 4559 5935 5512 5881 5071.2
Share of UAA under agri-environmental measures (net) % 0.6 1.2 17.8 : : 36.2 40 43.9 48.4 50.2
Utilised agricultural area (UAA), total ha 498591 508960 509624 505462 509709 490520 508758.5 490318 498466 492424
Figure KM03-2: The share of area subject to at least one agri-environmental measure in total utilised agricultural area by EU Member States
Sources:

European Environment Agency, 2005; EUROSTAT, 2009.

Show data
Luxembourg Finland Sweden Austria Germany Slovenia Ireland Czech Republic France United Kingdom
2002 % 100 99 86 82 25 29 31 16
2005 % 43.6 42 40.2 32.8 24.4
Malta Belgium Portugal Slovakia Denmark Italy Spain Latvia Greece Cyprus
2002 % 12 18 11 17 9 3
2005 % 21 20.8 18.8 18.8 15.6 15.4 12.1 7 6.6 4
Netherlands Poland Lithuania
2002 % 3
2005 % 1 0.7

Goals

- implement agri-environmental measures until 2013 on 365,000 ha of utilised agricultural area (gross area), of which one agri-environmental measure at least on 204,000 ha (net area).


The measures of agri-environmental programmes with various forms of support encourage the preservation or transition to more environment-friendly ways of production, thus improving the quality of soil and water, preserving the fertility of soil, biodiversity, the traditional farm landscape, and thus also sustainable use of natural sources. Farmers join the programme on a voluntary basis, and implement measures on one part or the entire farm holding. They sign a special agreement undertaking to run the production within a minimum period of time (five years as a rule) in line with the conditions prescribed for individual measures requiring more than just respecting the usual principles of good agricultural practice. By joining the agri-environmental programme, they are entitled to direct payments to cover additional costs, or compensate the loss of income due to a more demanding farming method.

Agricultural policy started to apply the first measures to support the environment-friendly ways of production in 1999, and to a large extent after the adoption of the Slovenian agri-environmental programme in 2001. In the first year (2001), ten measures were implemented, and in the following years their number increased to more than 20. After joining the EU in 2004, the support under agri-environmental programme became part of the Rural Development Programme of the Republic of Slovenia.

Area under agri-environmental commitment has been increasing after 1999. In 1999, these measures were implemented on 2,948 ha, and in 2008 on 323,043 ha. Area was increasing along with the increasing number of measures, and following a growing response to individual measures. The largest increase concerned area with the measures to reduce negative impacts of farming on the quality of soil and water (integrated production, greening of arable land, crop rotation), and the area with organic farming. The increase of area under measures for preserving the landscape, the habitats, and the biodiversity was rather modest, although these measures still hold the largest share of gross area subject to agri-environmental measures (50% in 2008).

The share of utilised agricultural area with at least one agri-environmental measure (net area) has increased from 0.6 % in 1999 to 50.2 % in 2008. Comparison with data for the EU Member States shows that the share of area under agri-environmental commitment in Slovenia is rather high, but much lower than for example in Austria, Sweden, Finland and Luxemburg where it exceeded 80% back in 2002.


Methodology

Data for Slovenia

Objectives summarized by: the Rural Development Programme of the Republic of Slovenia for the period 2007-2013
Source database or source: Data on the approved and paid support for individual agri-environmental measures and area concerned by these payments are managed by the Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Agricultural Markets and Rural Development (ARSCTRP). They are published within the framework of annual Reports on the situation in agriculture, forestry and food by individual year (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food). Reports are available on the web site of the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia. Data on utilised agricultural area are collected and published by the Statistical office of the Republic of Slovenia (SORS) on its portal SI-STAT (Environment and natural resources > Agriculture and Fishing > Crop Production > Crops and Area > Land use and use of arable crops (ha)).
Data administrator: ARSCTRP/MAFF, SORS
Data acquisition date for this indicator: 6.11.2009
Methodology and frequency of data collection for the indicator: Data on area which received support for implementing the agri-environmental measures are part of the system for applying the agricultural policy measures. The original data are being updated on-line upon each payment of the approved application. Information on area under agri-environmental commitment for each particular year is a cross section of the situation on a particular date in the second half of the following year when most payments for the measures implemented in the previous year have already been carried out.
Data processing methodology:The total area included in agri-environmental measures is calculated as a sum of area subject to individual basic measures. Information on net area, i.e. area which is considered only once if several agri-environmental measures are being implemented on the same area, has been taken directly from MAFF annual reports. This information is not available for all years and in terms of methodology not completely comparable with the information on gross area. The relative indicator is calculated by dividing net area with the total utilised agricultural area (net area under agri-environmental commitment/UAA x 100). In calculating the structure of gross area under agri-environmental commitment, individual measures are assembled in groups in line with the methodology used in the EU under the indicator IRENA 01.
Information concerning data quality:
- Indicator advantages and disadvantages (from the point of view of data):
Data from administrative sources are not systematically and regularly publicly available. Certain reports may quote somewhat different data, but these do not differ so as to have any impact on the reliability indicator.
- Relevance, accuracy, robustness, uncertainty:
Reliability of the indicator (archival data): The indicator is sufficiently reliable.
Uncertainty of the indicator (scenarios/projections): Scenarios and projections are not available.
- Overall assessment (1 = no major comments, 3 = data to be considered with reservation):
Relevance: 1
Accuracy: 2
Completeness over time: 1
Completeness over space: 1

Data for the EU

Source database or source: Data on the share of utilised agricultural area where at least one agri-environmental measure has been applied are collected up to 2002 for all the EU-15 countries within the framework of the indicator IRENA 01 (Area under agri-environment support). For the period from 2001 on, data on the share by individual Member States are available in EUROSTAT databases (Statistics Database > Statistics > Main tables > Environment and energy > Environment > Area under agri-environmental commitment (%)).
Data administrator: European Commission, EUROSTAT
Data acquisition date for this indicator: 6.11.2009
Methodology and frequency of data collection for the indicator: Data on area refer to the concluded agreements on applying the agri-environmental measures. Data are supplied by Member States once in a year.
Data processing methodology: Data are used directly.
Information concerning data quality:
- Advantages and disadvantages of the indicator: data are available with delay (the last ones refer to 2005) and do not include all EU Member States.
- Relevance, accuracy, robustness, uncertainty:
Reliability of the indicator (archival data): The indicator is relatively reliable.
Uncertainty of the indicator (scenarios/projections): Scenarios and projections are not available.
- Overall assessment (1 = no major comments, 3 = data to be considered with reservation):
Relevance: 1
Accuracy: 2
Completeness over time: 2
Completeness over space: 2

Other sources and literature:
- European Environmental Agency, 2005. IRENA Indicator Fact Sheet 01: Area under agri-environment support.