EXPERIENCES IN USING AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS AS A POLICY TOOL IN THE NORWEGIAN AGRI- ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMME

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1 EXPERIENCES IN USING AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS AS A POLICY TOOL IN THE NORWEGIAN AGRI- ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMME BJØRN HUSO NORWEGIAN AGRICULTURAL AUTHORITY OSLO Paper presented to the OECD Worskshop on Agri-environmental Indicators: Lessons learned and Future Directions March 2010 Leysin, Switzerland

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3 Executive Summary The climatic and topographic conditions affecting agricultural production in Norway are very variable (temperature, precipitation, soil type etc). The majority of grain production takes place in the southeastern parts of the country and Trøndelag (north-west). This is where the best climatic conditions for farming are found though the soil here is clay-bearing and susceptible to erosion and nutrient loss. Livestock farming is located in the west, mountainous regions and northern Norway, where the climate is better suited for grass cultivation and grazing. In the south-west there is highly concentrated livestock production which causes problems with pollution of rivers in several areas. These regional variations with regard to agricultural production and natural variation, do in turn, mean that the environmental consequenses of farming also vary greatly across the country. This provides challenges in applying the most appropriate and effective agri-environmental measures to each area as well as making it difficult to monitor their effects. In order to strengthen and target these environmental efforts, Norway introduced a new strategy for agrienvironmental measures in This strategy comprises a national agri-environmental programme with measures at a national level, a regional agri-environment programme with regionally targeted measures, local strategies at a council level and an environmental plan at the farm level. At the same time, a systematic reporting and results analysis programme was established. The introduction of the regional agri-environmental programme has therefore strengthened the national programme and has improved the targeting of the efforts. It is however, difficult to register significant changes within the national monitoring programmes within this time period. The problems with identifying significant trends in nutrient loss and erosion can be linked to the fact that farming methods have changed over time. For example, there has been an increase in the area of winther wheat which under Norwegian conditions can increase the risk of erosion and nutrient loss. This may also correlate with climatic changes such as increased amount and intensity of precipitation and reduced winter frost. The supply of nutrients from precipitation may also be of relevance. If one is to achieve a targeted and effective agri-environmental effort, one also needs a thorough knowledge of the condition of features as well as the specific effects of different managment options and measures. It is necessary to have detailed information about individual water bodies and the farmland around it. Obtaining such detailed measurements requires a lot of resources and it is therefore necessary to use other tools and methodology in order to take into account other factors such as local variations in climate and agricultural production when drawing conclusions from the data. The indicators that are relevant to cultivation techniques provide good general information, but more specific information is required in order to say anything about the condition of different waterbodies and whether they are improving over time as a result of management practices. In prioritised areas, several measures are often required in combination with reduced cultivation in order to obtain significant results. Even if the indicators do not give exact information about condition or the effects of management options in water bodies, they do give the basis for comparison between areas (counties, regions and countries) as well as the trends and direction over time. Indicators can therefore also emphasise the need for further knowledge/research regarding the interdependencies between environmental condition and the impact of farming methods, climate and soil type. In the design and development of agri-environmental measures relevant to historical landscapes and biodiversity it is also necessary to obtain more information about the local variation than provided by more general monitoring programmes and indicators. The indicators are however, important tools in looking at holistic juxtapositions and comparisons. Indicators are therefore important tools for the authorities in developing policies and measures. 3

4 Introduction The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the Norwegian Agri-Environment Programme, its aims, management options and how mapping/monitoring is used to improve targeting (through a performance monitoring programme). The performance monitoring system will be demonstrated using measures to prevent erosion and leaching of phosphor. There is also a mapping and surveillance system used for monitoring cultural heritage and landscapes. This is described in the paper submitted by Wendy Fjellstad at the Norwegian institute for forestry and landscape. Overview of agriculture in Norway: area, production, number of farms and regional distribution There are 46,500 agricultural enterprises in Norway, farming approximately 1 million hectares of agricultural land. Of this, 64% comprises meadow and grazing land, whereas 31 % is primarily arable land for grain production. The remaining area is used for growing potatoes, vegetables, fruit and berries. Figure 1, below shows the distribution of farmland in each county (18 counties). Figure 1: Map of agricultural land use in each county as a percentage of total agricultural area in Norway, 2007 The majority of grain production is carried out in the south-easterly parts of the country and the region of Trøndelag. These areas are climatically suited to arable cropping though the soil structure is clay-based and thus prone to erosion and nutrient loss. Livestock production is primarily carried out in the west of the country, mountainous regions and Northern Norway where the climate is colder, wetter and more suitable to grass production and grazing (see figure 2 below). In the south-west there is more intensive animal production with cattle, pigs and poultry being the main focus. This creates problems associated with the pollution of waterways in several/many of the areas. 4

5 Figure 2: The distribution of grazing animals by county, in Norway 2007 Environmental targets in farming The overall environmental goal for agriculture in Norway is that farming must be based on sustainable use of resources, focusing primarily on the protection of farmland, maintenance and protection of historical landscapes and as maintaining biodiversity. The regional agri-environment scheme has the following environmental objectives: maintaining prioritised historical landscapes, conservation of biodiversity, protection of historical and cultural areas and features, ensure access and values associated with outdoor persuits, prevent run off to waterways and prevent the inadvertent spread of pesticides as well as ensuring effective waste management. A series of key environmental indicators has been developed against which achievements are reported annually to Central Government. The indicators are designed to give an overview of the status and development of the different aims and objecives in relation to the management options that have been implemented. National and regional environmental programme Background and purpose In order to strengthen the environmental efforts in farming, the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) decided in 2003 to introduce a strategy for environmental measures in farming. The overall aim was to contribute to improved targeting of measures, to raise the profile of environmental eforts, to anchor it locally and regionaly whilst providing the basis for a more manageable performance monitoring and assessment system. 5

6 The environmental intitiative consists of a national programme as well as a regionally adjusted programme. The national programme comprises the following: Overall national environmental goals General framework and guidelines for the design of the regional programmes A toolkit of national and general environmental management options A system for the approval and monitoring of the regional programmes A performance monitoring system The strategy comprises measures at four different levels National environmental programme with national measures Regional environmental programme with mesures set regionally Local strategies for special environmental measures at a council level Farm-level environmental plan for individual enterprises Prior to the start of the environmental programme in 2005, the environmental grant schemes consisted mainly of national schemes with uniform requirements and conditions that were independent of geographic location. They did not take account of the various environmental challenges experienced in different parts of the country. The costs (income foregone) associated with carrying out the different measures can vary greatly according to the geographic location of the holding. For example, a requirement to plow in the spring, could rule out the possibility for the farmer to cultivate winter wheat. Winter wheat has a considerably higher potential yield than a spring-sown crop and in order to bring about such an adjustment in agricultural practice, there is therefore the need to create better incentives in areas where winter wheat is possible, than in the parts of the country where spring-sowing is the only option. Through the introduction of the regional environmental programme the regional authorities were also allowed to determine the level of financial support paid towards the different environmental management options. In this way regional priorities and targeting were made possible. This paper describes how we have designed and implemented a system with regionally tailored agrienvironmental measures, how a performance monitoring system based on different indicators has been set up and the results the regionalised tailoring has yielded in Norway. Guidelines for design of regional schemes Each county has an assigned budget. In the first year (2005) the total budget was NOK 350 mil (43,65 million Euro). This increased to NOK 410 million (51,1 million Euro) in The budgets for the different counties have varied between NOK 50 million and NOK 3 million (6,2 million and 0.37 million Euro) depending on the level of agricultural production in each county. The authorities in each county have been tasked with designing options within this framework with the aim of safeguarding the following objectives: Measures to protect the cultural landscape with two key priorities o Measures to strengthen hill farm summer dairies o Measures to safeguard active grazing Measures to prevent pollution eg. nutrient leaching to watercourses and the use of pesticides Prioritisation of different areas and implementation of the measures has been carried out based on condition assessment data. The starting point for the condition assessment was existing national registration/mapping of important environmental condition e.g. Areas with land prone to erosion, divided into erosion risk classes 6

7 The incidence of areas threatened by successional change due to the cessation of mowing and grazing Valuable cultural landscapes (Naturebase) Prioritised habitats (national, local, regional) (Naturebase) Historical features (Askeladden, SEFRAK) In addition, condition assessment took into account local registrations/measurements that were not collated in the national systems e.g. Mapping of eutrophication in water bodies 1 Mapping of biodiversity The incidence of hill farm areas Surveys of regionally valuabe cultural heritage/historical features The presence of areas with special environmental and recreational value It has been up to the local authorities in each county to prioritise their use of resources on the different objectives, for example, the proportion of funds aimed at improved cultivation measures and the proportion aimed at protecting historical landscapes. The prioritisation between different areas and the designation of areas for the different measures has been based on environmental criteria (mapping and registration data) and carried out in partnership between the local agricultural and environmental administration. Local business and farming representatives were also involved in this process. Reporting and performance monitoring system A scheme for systematic reporting and performance monitoring was established concurrently with the introduction of the Regional environmental programme. The purpose of this was to obtain information as the basis for further targeting and prioritsation of measures and to report to the parent authorities and international forums as effectively as possible. There were two particular factors that were emphasized in the establishment of the performance monitoring system: Conditions in nature are extremely varied and complex, and it is difficult or impossible to measure the effect of each action or tool in isolation. Examples of this are when one wishes to measure the effect of reduced tillage or cultivation on waterways, it is difficult to determine whether the observed effect is due to the action or whether it is due to environmental conditions such as topography or precipitation. One is therefore dependent on making measurements and observing trends over a longer period of time. Conditions vary so much in time and space that in order to capture this variation it is important to carry out a significantly large number of recordings with a large geographic spread. For example, Norway has a huge variation in soil, topographic and climatic conditions. Water flow and retention will therefore vary greatly in different areas and when measuring the effects of cultivation, it is necessary to take measurements over a greater area. This creates issues of cost and practicality. For many activities, it is not possible to measure the direct effect of the management option so one must therefore use indicators which we have assumed will highlight the conditions that we wish to report on. For example, this applies when mapping the effects of measures designed to protect biodiversity. When designing such reporting systems it is therefore a pre-requisite that the indicator and data will: Give the recipient useful information 1 Data from all waterbodies includes information about environmental condition and pollution sources from 2008, collated in a national data base (Vann-Nett). 7

8 Provide information on prioritised issues Can be linked to political goals Provide a good and relevant data base e.g. official statistics and international reporting Should be relevant and useful for different levels of administration (aggregated data) The performance monitoring system is based on the following main elements: Key reporting areas The counties were given considerable freedom in designing regionally tailored instruments based on local priorities. Amongst other things, this applies to what extent the scheme should target their own priority areas (for example, areas with runoff into watercourses, areas with particularly valuable biodiversity) or whether they wished to allocate funds based on more general criteria (for example, payments for reduced cultivation in all grain areas independent of the farmer s location in the water catchment area). Considerable freedom was also given in the devising of payment criteria. A common reporting scheme has been designed in order to ensure that reporting is based on a joint strategy. This provides opportunities to aggregate the data to a national level (see table 1 below for an overview of key reporting areas). 8

9 Key reporting areas Valuable historical landscapes with special cultural and biological qualities Historical features Access and recreational activities Erosionand run off to water ways Pesticides Waste intitiatives individual summer hill dairies automatically protected historical features Length of footpaths on farmland (m) Area (hectare) without autumn cultivation Area (hectares) of mechanical weeding enterprises that have carried out waste initiatives combined summer hill dairies protected and listed buildings Area (hectares) of farmland footpaths Area (daa) of autumn direct drilling Area (hectares) valuable historical landscape Area (hectares) of protective zones around historical features Area (hectare) winter wheat following light tillage Area (daa) habitats Length (metres) of stone walls Area (hectares) of catch crops (grazing) animals on coastal heather moorland working days in management of historical features Area (hectares) waterways grazing animals in protected areas Length (m) waterways pollarded trees Area (hectares) vegetation zones /bufferstrips days management for protection of cultural landscapes sedimentation ponds Area (hectares) manure spreading Table 1: Key reporting areas for regional agri-environmental schemes Mapping and monitoring Emissions of soil particles, nutrients and pesticides to water are mapped through a special monitoring programme (JOVA) operated by Bioforsk (national R&D institute). Water catchment areas that represent the most important agricultural areas in the country regarding climate, soil and management practices, are 9

10 monitored throught this programme. Measurements are taken of the concentration of phosphorus, soil particles, and pesticides. Nine different monitoring stations provide a representative picture of the impact of various climatic and operational conditions. Water quality in agricultural streams, the loss of particles and nutrients and the effects of measures and operating practices are charted. The program has run since the 90 s and it is difficult to determine significant trends that have developed as a result of the measures implemented. The results shown below from 2008/2009 in two practically identical areas (in terms of type of growth and processing areas), illustrate this. Figures 3 and 4: Concentration of suspended matter, phosphorous, run-off and precipitation at two locations; Skuterud and Mørdre in 2008/2009 The concentration of suspended matter (SM) and phosphorus (Tot-P) varies by more than 100 percent between the two fields. Important factors that influence the run off has been fairly even but the difference is explained by the difference in soil types. This illustrates the challenge of defining and refining areas, targeting measures and determining the effects of the measures that are carried out. The condition and development in the agricultural landscape are mapped in a separate program (3Q). This is discussed further by Wendy Fjellstad in "Addressing the spatial resolution of agri-environmental indicators in Norway" (Paper to OECD Workshop March 2010). Closer analysis of management options and effects In order to get a thorough understanding of the effects of the measures implemented, it is not sufficient to solely use information about the implementation of measures (for example, land with reduced tillage or 10

11 areas of protected cultural landscapes). Condition and development are registered through the monitoring programmes but his does not necessarily provide direct information regarding the effects of the actual management options that have been carried out. One reason for this is that the large variation in climate and topographical conditions makes it difficult to carry out a sufficiently large number of measurements that reflect the management options. The field measurements also express factors other than the management option that has been implemented. Using data from JOVA and other research, theoretical models for the effects of various measures such as cultivation changes, catch crops, vegetation zones, etc have been developed. By combining figures for the theoretical effects of the measures with data about trends and implementation of measures, it may be possible to calculate the theoretical effect of the measures which take into account of the differences in climatic, topographic and soil-related factors. Bioforsk has conducted such an evaluation of the effects of the options in the regional environmental programmes that apply to erosion and nutrient loss. The conclusion is that regional tailoring and targeting does result in better achievement of the objectives, but that in specific problem areas it is important to implement "packages" consisting of several targeted management options. The problems experienced in determining significant trends can be related to the fact that farming systems are modified over time, for example, there has been an increase in the production of winter wheat, which under Norwegian conditions leads to increased risk of erosion and nutrient loss. This can also be linked to climate change such as increased precipitation and less frost in the winter. An increase in the supply of nutrients from other sources e.g. precipitation, may also be significant when examining trends in nutrient loss and run-off. It is also desirable to obtain better information about the direct effects of agri-environmental options designed to benefit historical landscapes and biodiversity than we can obtain through the general monitoring system that we call 3Q. In the evaluation of the regional agri-environment programmes different analyses have therefore been carried out in order to improve our knowledge of the direct effects of management options. For example, geographical analyses have been carried out in different target areas to compare registered historical or biological features/areas and the management options funded in the region in order to determine whether the grants given actually match up with targeted features on the ground and subsequently that the funding is being applied appropriately. Evaluation of the regional agri-environmental programmes An evaluation of the regional agri-environmental programme was carried out in The following findings are summarised: Regionally tailored measures and options have provided better customization of the instruments compared with the national, more generally designed instruments. For example, the management conditions applied to cultivation techniques are better suited to the local variations in erosion risk areas caused by rainfall and soil-related factors. Grants made to protect historical landscape features and special management options, such as grants for grazing and supplements to hill dairy farming, can be targeted better by using regional tailoring. Prioritisation of budgets for different management options in key areas is in better accordance with local needs. Regional priorities have provided the opportunity for increased involvement and engagement of local and regional authorities, agriclutural practitioners and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Regionalised options and methods have increased the administration costs associated with the designation and prioritisation of areas for such schemes, information and consultation processes as well as data collection and reporting. Regional priorities can reduce the safeguarding and prioritisation of national goals. For instance, cultivation measures aimed to a greater extent at protecting the local conditions (eutrophication) rather than national conditions (N-transfers to the waters, N 2 O release) 11

12 Guidelines are required to ensure consistent reporting that provides the basis for comprehensive evaluation and reporting. These guidelines must include the following: o Categorisation and registration of options and activities: It must be possible to report on these in relation to the national environmental objectives. o Systematic data registration from participants: For example it is very useful to combine knowledge of cultivation options with information about erosion risk in the relevant areas. o The type of measurements used: For example whether grants for buffer zones should be measured per hectare or metre? Or whether grazing options (for biodiversity management) should be recorded per animal or per unit area? Conclusion The introduction of the regional environmental program is considered to have improved prioritisation and effective targeting of management options. It has however, been difficult to detect significant changes directly attributed to management options through the monitoring programs. The problems in determining significant trends e.g. in terms of nutrient loss and erosion can also be attributed to modification of farming methods over time, e.g., increased production of winter wheat that under Norwegian conditions leads to increased risk of erosion and leaching. These issues can also be linked to climate change with increased and more intense precipitation and less frost in winter. Increased supplies from other nutrient sources for example through precipitation may also have an effect on the results by increasing the nutrient levels. In-depth knowledge of the effects of the various management options is necessary in order to achieve targeted and effective action. It is necessary to have detailed information on each waterbody and the surrounding areas. Significant resources are required in order to provide reliable information through regular monitoring. It is therefore necessary to employ additional aids and tools so that one can take into account local variations without having to conduct an excessively large number of measurements. Similar conclusions can be drawn regarding the results of monitoring for historical landscapes and biodiversity. The indicators concerning tillage and land management provide good general information about trends and status. However, more specific information is required in order to determine variation in condition of the different water bodies and how management options affect them over time. In the priority areas, other management options are usually required in combination with minimum tillage and this must be accounted for when interpreting the results. Even though the indicators do not provide exact information about the condition or achieved effects in water bodies, they do provide the basis for comparisons between areas (counties, regions and countries) and information about development over time. The indicators provide the basis for emphasizing the need for more in-depth knowledge about the relationships between the environment and the importance of farming methods, climate and soil type. The indicators are thus important tools for the authorities in the formulation of policies and instruments. When designing measures and schemes that apply to cultural and biological diversity, it is also necessary to have more information about the variations than one can get through the general monitoring and indicators. The indicators are, however, important tools for holistic juxtapositions and comparisons. 12