Agri-environmental management, 1981–2023

Agricultural biodiversity is of great importance internationally 

More than half the land area of the Netherlands is in agricultural use. These agricultural areas are home to characteristic bird species such as northern lapwing, black-tailed godwit and common redshank, for which the Netherlands is internationally important. During the twentieth century the implementation of rural land development projects and the increasing scale and intensity of agricultural production caused the numbers of these species to fall sharply. Intensive mowing regimes have led to the destruction of nests and chick deaths: the combination of insufficient cover, lower groundwater levels, better access for predators and smaller areas of long grass with a good supply of insects means that many meadow bird chicks do not survive. Besides meadow birds, the areas of flower-rich meadows, herb-rich and bird-rich arable fields and characteristic landscape features and the numbers of grassland butterflies and other species have declined considerably in the twentieth century. Since 1981 the Dutch government has provided subsidies for agri-environmental management to conserve nature and landscape values in agricultural areas. 

Subsidy schemes for agri-environmental management 

In 1975 the Relatienota policy document on agriculture and nature conservation introduced the first scheme under which farmers were paid for agri-environmental management. In certain designated areas farmers could enter into management agreements with the government. The aim was ultimately to have 100,000 ha under a management agreement, or about 5% of the agricultural area at that time. In 1981, six years after the initial announcement, the first management agreements between farmers and the government were concluded.

The Relatienota was followed by a number of subsidy schemes:

• 1981 to 1988: the Beschikking Beheersovereenkomsten (BBO) [Management Agreements Order].
• 1988 to 1995: the Regeling Beheersovereenkomsten (RBO) [Management Agreements Scheme].
• 1995 to 2000: the Regeling Beheersovereenkomsten en Natuurontwikkeling (RBON) [Management Agreements and Nature Development Scheme], under which the Government Service for Land and Water Management (DLG) gave on-farm advice on what the RBON could offer and agreements were tailored to each farm.
• 2000 to 2010: the Subsidieregeling Agrarisch Natuurbebeer (SAN) [Agri-Environment Subsidy Scheme], part of the Programma Beheer [Management Programme], and from 2007 the provincial (P)SAN. With the introduction of the SAN tailored arrangements came to an end. The Management Programme was a result- based payment scheme . The SAN consisted of standard subsidy management packages and agreements on the results to be achieved, which were expressed, for example, in terms of plant species per 25 m­² and number of breeding pairs per 100 ha. The DLG became an auditor instead of an adviser. 
• 2010 to 2016: the Subsidiestelsel Natuur & Landschap – agrarisch (SNLa) [Nature and Landscape Subsidy Scheme – agricultural]. The SNL aimed to make agri-environmental management more effective, for example by appointing area coordinators and collectives to coordinate management measures in the area. Collectives are certified associations that apply for the agri-environmental management subsidies and conclude management contracts with individual farmers. The target for agri-environmental management (which after several changes of policy was then 110,000 ha) was dropped. 
• From 2016 the Agrarisch Natuur- en Landschapsbeheer (ANLb) agri-environment subsidy scheme. The aim of this scheme is again to make agri-environmental management more effective and efficient through a collective and area-based approach. The core of the ANLb is a habitat approach targeting 68 species protected under the Birds and Habitats Directives that depend (partly) on agricultural land. There is also a water category that includes the aim of improving water quality and water retention.

The area under agri-environmental management fell between 2006 and 2018

Participation in agri-environmental management schemes was slow to get off the ground. In the early years, most agreements were in areas with difficult production conditions. In the 1990s the area under management agreements rose steadily to approx. 86,000 ha in 2002. 

In 2004 and 2005 the area expanded rapidly. This increase consisted largely of nest protection packages, now also called clutch management, mainly because the minimum requirements for the collective meadow bird packages (delaying work in the field, called ‘heavy management’) were abandoned in 2003. As nest protection management involves only ceasing activities in patches of a few metres around each nest, the entire field area no longer counted towards the target of 110,000 ha. This meant that of the approx. 183,000 ha (gross) under the SAN in 2006, a net area of about 74,000 counted towards the target. Because the targets have been dropped, the graphs in this indicator only show the gross areas and therefore differ from the previously reported net areas.

After 2006 the area under agri-environmental management decreased to 2018. This was because the ANLb subsidy scheme focused mainly on core areas, the most important areas where the species to be protected are found. After seven years of management (2016–2022) the area managed by the collectives expanded again to 104,000 ha on 1 January 2023, or about 6% of the total area of cultivated land.

Big differences in areas under agri-environmental management between provinces

When implementing the ANLb the provinces prioritise not only the core areas, but also the habitats of protected species. For this reason, the growth in the area of agri-environmental management under the ANLb has consisted mainly of arable land, whereas the area of agri-environmental management for botanic (flower-rich) grasslands has declined compared with previous schemes. According to those involved in the evaluation of the ANLb, the management of several valuable botanic grasslands has lapsed (Boonstra et al., 2021). The majority of thearea under agri-environmental management was and is grassland management for the protection of meadow birds.

The area of land under agri-environmental management is not distributed equally over the provinces. The majority of the area under agri-environmental management is of the ‘open grassland’ habitat type and lies in the provinces of Friesland and Noord-Holland. These provinces also contain most of the important meadow bird areas. Relatively few agri-environmental management subsidies have been granted in the provinces of Limburg, Drenthe, Zeeland and Flevoland. In these provinces subsidies are mainly for the management of ‘open arable land’ and ‘green landscape elements’ habitat types. These differences can be explained by different policy choices made by the provinces.

Balance between heavy management and nest protection has improved

An area-specific mosaic of different rest periods is considered to be the main success factor for the sustainable conservation of the meadow bird populations. A rest period means that the farmer does not carry out any work on the land during a certain period. The rest period allows the grass to grow higher, which is necessary to provide shelter and food for the chicks and therefore for their survival. These rest periods are called ‘heavy management’ because the area affected by the measures and the loss of income are much greater than for nest protection.

In 2000, the Management Programme SAN scheme was launched, with minimum areas of heavy management per 100 ha. Outside these areas of heavy management only nests (clutches) were protected. After changes were made to the packages in 2003, which included dropping this minimum share of heavy management, the proportion of the area under heavy management fell from approx. 38% in 2003 to approx. 21% in 2005. Under the current ANLb, the proportion of heavy management is approx. 35%, involving the management by collectives of a mosaic of nest protection plots, grassland with rest periods, herb-rich grassland and seasonally flooded grassland. Such a mosaic, with a higher proportion of meadow bird management than nest protection, is considered by experts to be favourable for meadow bird protection. 

Agri-environmental management has been less effective than expected 

The ANLb is the sixth agri-environmental management scheme in 40 years. So far, these schemes have failed to conserve the nature and landscape values on farmland, despite reports of local successes. For example, 40 years of policy on agri-environmental management has not been able to halt the decline in characteristic bird species for which the Netherlands is internationally significant.

The current ANLb scheme was evaluated in 2020 (Boonstra et al., 2021). Data on the effectiveness of the agri-environmental management of habitats and its contribution to the conservation of protected species were not available for this interim evaluation, but expectations were tempered nevertheless. According to the interim evaluation, nest protection and rest periods do not necessarily ensure an improvement in habitat quality in the long term. To improve habitat quality, it is necessary to develop herb-rich grassland, reduce fertiliser inputs and raise water levels, but these measures have been implemented hardly at all due to a lack of enthusiasm.

• Farmland bird indicator
• Nestsucces van boerenlandvogels
• Overzicht indicatoren natuur en biodiversiteit