The objective of the contract was to carry out ‘an evaluation study of the payment for agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the environment (“greening measures” in direct payments). It covered 15 evaluation study questions relating to causal analysis (in terms of the effects of the measures on cropping patterns, grassland maintenance, production, economic viability of farms), effectiveness (in relation to their environmental objectives), efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value.
The scope of the evaluation covered the three greening measures under the Direct payments regulation as well as measures complementary to greening measures, in particular cross-compliance, the way that the CAP definition of permanent grassland has been applied in Member States and AECM. The way in which other CAP instruments and measures (e.g. the use of voluntary coupled support) and other EU measures (e.g. concerning Natura 2000 areas and the Birds and Habitats directives) were implemented in Member States were also relevant in cases where they interacted with or influenced the implementation of the greening measures.
The geographical scope of the evaluation was the EU-28 and the study covered the period from 1 January 2015, the date from which the greening measures were implemented in Member States. The period from 2003 was taken into account where necessary to provide a reference point for the analysis.