Genetic reserves at farms
Farmers should commit themselves, for a minimum period of five years, to adopt environmentally friendly farming techniques that go beyond legal obligations.
Agri-environment measures may be designed at the national, regional, or local levels so that they can be adapted to particular farming systems and specific environmental conditions. This makes agri-environment a targeted tool for achieving environmental goals. Agri-environment measures are co-financed by EU countries. Since 1992, the application of agri-environment programmes has been compulsory for EU countries in the framework of their rural development programmes, whereas they remain optional for farmers. Through rural development programmes, EU expenditure on agri-environment measures is expected to total 25 billion EURO over the course of the 2014-2020 period. As already mentioned above similar initiatives are underway outside the EU, such for example, Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) in England “public money is being used for public goods” by UK DEFRA.
A point that should also be stressed is the practicalities of working with farmer, landowners or the general public is that they should not scared off from collaboration by excessive bureaucracy. Farmer and other landowners may have the positives of incentives, even payments for prescribed environmental land management, but even they are more likely to become involved if the administration is simple and employs low-cost administrative tools to carry out such collaboration on long term. Minor private entities, small farms, private museums, etc. do either not have or have little interest in acquiring the administrative capacity to carry out annual reporting, applications for annual funding, etc, which an overly bureaucratic public conservation system may require. Therefore, some kind of simple system, preferably automatic, if possible, and definitely involving low time consumption, must be developed.
