Strong policy or weak policy? The environmental impact of the 1992 reforms to the CAP arable regime in Great Britain

This paper examines the environmental impact of the 1992 reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union within British arable agriculture. It demonstrates how policies that were expected by some to have positive environmental outcomes did not do so. One reason for this failure is to do with the design of the policy instruments and the fact that environmental objectives were not explicit. It is suggested that the environmental arguments remain peripheral to policy making within the European Commission. it is also the case that there were important unexpected impacts of other non-policy factors, especially trends in world market prices for arable products in the period following 1992. A weak policy thesis in which the CAP sits alongside market forces, other policies and the socio-economics of agriculture provides a powerful explanation of land management in agriculture, However, it is also the case that the policy remains strong if measured by its core principles. The paper suggests in conclusion that future policy reforms should recognise the complex and inter-related factors influencing farmer behaviour. This is likely to mean a combination of measures designed to capture the potential for increasing biodiversity in a range of contrasting Farm systems and individual farm circumstances. Policy goals should be explicit and the policy mechanisms designed to achieve those goals tightly focused. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.