Cross compliance: from biodiversity to environmental protection. Agriculture as the key player in sustainable development

Reduction in soil erosion, maintenance of soil fertility and biodiversity protection are the first positive results obtained by the Italian agricultural activity within the new environmental challenge carried out by the Common Agricultural Policy - which allocates to such objectives a significant part of the funding - "Cross compliance" is the keyword of this new strategy: a set of rules that farmers must comply with to ensure high standards of environmental and territory protection, food safety and public health, animal welfare.    
The data generated from the first report on the implementation of this environmental standard, follow such direction both in terms of controls intensification and achieved results.

The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies underlined the importance of cross compliance obligations to be appropriately monitored, enhancing the public opinion exchange of information on the positive effects generated from a new Agriculture aimed at providing public good and services.
The European Commission (DG AGRI) illustrated the correct synergy between cross compliance obligations and the Rural Development Programmes agri-environmental measures.
The National Rural Network and CRA speeches provided a general framework of the experimental findings related to GAEC implementation in Italy starting from 2005, underlining the strengths and weaknesses and, in particular, the technical, economic and knowledge impact on farms.
The Institute for European Environmental Policy speech provided examples on how public goods protection in Member States can contribute to enhance landscape protection and biodiversity maintenance. Veneto Region brought its integration experience between cross compliance and the so-called "conservation agriculture" in the regional RDP; while the COPA COGECA illustrated GAEC implementation critical issues for farms as economic stakeholders.
In conclusion, the National Council of Doctors of Agronomy and Doctors of Forestry (CONAF) speech was focused on farm advisory systems in agriculture, with a view to the role played by knowledge and information spreading that needs to be strengthened to enhance the respect of cross compliance standards and farms competitiveness.