AGRO-ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY IN GERMANY

For a long time, agriculture in Germany was, or at least seemed to be, in a harmonious relationship with the environment. However, this harmony dwindled during the last two decades. In order to increase agricultural productivity and to ensure farmers a fair standard of living with its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the European Community (EC) supported agricultural market prices at levels considerably above those prevailing at the world markets. The resulting intensification and specialisation of agricultural production was, and still is, one of the main factors contributing to the serious problem of water pollution and soil degradation. The public in Germany and in the European Community has become increasingly aware of the fact that agricultural activities always influence the environment, and often in a negative way. This public awareness developed after a considerable amount of damage had already been done. It was not only raised by the growing extent of soil and water pollution, but also by more sophisticated methods to detect traces of pollutants. Thus, today, amounts of pollutants can be measured that in many cases could not be discovered several years ago. In other words, the surveillance capability has increased to an extent that makes it possible to detect pollution problems that earlier would have passed unnoticed. In order to reduce the negative impacts of agriculture on soil and water, various policy measures have been discussed and implemented in Germany as well as in the European Union (EU). This paper focuses on: the extent to which agriculture influences soil and water quality; general considerations on environmental policy instruments; the most important legislation and institutional settings concerning soil and water conservation in Germany; arguments for the fact that the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union is likely to become slightly environmentally friendly in the future; the assessment of the effects of alternative water conservation strategies, using a regionalised agricultural sector model. Agriculturally induced soil and water pollution in Germany