EU agricultural reform fails on…

EU agricultural reform fails on biodiversity

Guy Pe'er, Lynn V. Dicks, Piero Visconti, Raphael Arlettaz, András Báldi, Tim G. Benton, Sarah Collins, Martin Dieterich, Richard D. Gregory, Florian Hartig, Klaus Henle, Peter R. Hobson, David Kleijn, Rebecca K. Neumann, Tim Robijns, Jenny Schmidt, Assaf Shwartz, William J. Sutherland, Anne Turbé, Florian Wulf, Alexander V. Scott

Science, 344(6188), 1090–1092 (2014)

Cite this

@article{peer2014eu,
  author = {Guy Pe'er and Lynn V. Dicks and Piero Visconti and Raphael Arlettaz and András Báldi and Tim G. Benton and Sarah Collins and Martin Dieterich and Richard D. Gregory and Florian Hartig and Klaus Henle and Peter R. Hobson and David Kleijn and Rebecca K. Neumann and Tim Robijns and Jenny Schmidt and Assaf Shwartz and William J. Sutherland and Anne Turbé and Florian Wulf and Alexander V. Scott},
  title = {EU agricultural reform fails on biodiversity},
  journal = {Science},
  volume = {344},
  number = {6188},
  pages = {1090–1092},
  year = {2014},
  doi = {10.1126/science.1253425},
}

DOI: 10.1126/science.1253425
Cited by 917 (Google Scholar) · 621 (OpenAlex), as of 07 September 2026

Abstract

Extra steps by Member States are needed to protect farmed and grassland ecosystems.

What the paper shows and why it matters (AI-generated)

The European Union's 2013 Common Agricultural Policy reform promised “greening” measures to protect farmland biodiversity, and this commentary's central claim is that the reform falls well short of what's actually needed. That's not a minor critique: CAP payments are the single largest lever European governments have over how farmland gets managed, and with over 600 citing papers spanning organic-farming policy, agri-environment scheme design and farmland bird conservation, the paper's diagnosis has become a standing reference point for exactly the debate about whether CAP reform delivers for biodiversity that continues today.