The EU's Crop Diversification Impact on Flemish Landscape Ecology and Farm Structure

One of the new, debated political instrumentsof the upcoming European Common Agricultural Policy-reform is the cropdiversification measure. European Institutions are currently opposing anddiscussing their respective proposals regarding this greening measure. Tocomply with the crop diversification measure, arable farmers will have to growa minimum number of crops on their land, in given proportions. The debate liesin the definitions of crop and the definition of targeted farmers. In thisthesis, the central questions are: What are the potential gains in EU farmlandbiodiversity of the crop diversification measure and to which extend thismeasure will change farm management practices? Here, we try to predict theimpact of the different proposals on farm structures and landscapebiodiversity. Changes in ecological values of crop mosaics are modeled,with Flanders as case study. A farmer’s behavior is based on the closest peer’sbehavior in terms of crop choice and geographical distance. The outcomes areassessed through the Shannon Diversity Index and several descriptive statisticsof farm impact. ( en )