Description of the Business As Usual (BAU)
The “Business as Usual” land use is conventional open cropland and permanent or temporary grassland. Agricultural land in the EU has had a large proportion of its original cover of hedges and scattered trees removed to make way for intensive mechanisation. These farm “improvements” were often subsidised with state aid, leading to “tree deserts”, which are treeless landscapes where livestock and soils are fully exposed to sun, wind, and rain, resulting in higher evaporation and lower structural carbon storage.
Description of the system change
Starting with Regulation 797/85 and continuing in the MacSharry Reform of 1992, it became mandatory for Member States to implement agri-environmental measures to provide compensation for farmers to maintain hedges, tree lines, dry stone walls and other landscape features. This practice transitions open land into a resilient, multi- functional system. Strategic placement, such as contour planting or integration with swales and berms, helps reduce overland water flow and wind erosion. These features act as biological corridors and provide essential shade and shelter, thereby extending the grazing season and protecting crops from climatic extremes. According to CAP Regulations (2022/1172, 2022/1173 and 2022/126), they should be mapped and protected. There is no indication in the regulations that they should be “non-productive”, a designation given to “fallow land”. Management of trees for timber and fuelwood production is therefore permitted, providing that cutting takes place outside the nesting season.