Benefit from the 2023 eco-schemes

Technical articles - Work organization, Cost reduction

The eco-scheme is “an income support granted within the framework of a voluntary program for climate, environment, and animal welfare.” It replaces green payments, except for those concerning Ecological Interest Areas (EIA), crop rotation diversity criteria, and grassland preservation. These requirements become mandatory for all but are no longer subsidized, penalties may be applied in case of non-compliance. The eco-scheme was designed so that a majority of European farms can benefit from the aid; in France, at least 70% of French farms are expected to be eligible for eco-scheme subsidies with very little adaptation effort, the others being invited to review their cropping practices.

The eco-scheme is organized into two levels representing the amounts of aid available per hectare that a farmer can receive as well as three non-cumulative access routes.

Aid thresholds

There are two levels corresponding to two amounts per hectare that the farmer can obtain. The exact amounts are still under discussion; a recent hypothesis as of May 2023 is :

• Level 1 : €54/ha
• Level 2 : €76/ha

Levels 1 and 2 differ by the intensity of diversity in agricultural practices, constraints of an environmental certification, or by the total Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) in Agroecological Infrastructures (AEI).

The three access routes to the eco-scheme

When applying for subsidies, the farmer must choose between three eligibility routes for the eco-scheme :

The three possible access routes for the eco-scheme (Source: Indre-et-Loire Chamber of Agriculture)

This diagram shows that farmers who choose the agricultural practices or environmental certifications route can benefit from a €7/ha premium if 6% or more of their UAA and their arable land (AL) is covered by hedges or if the farm has the hedge label.

The agricultural practices route

To access the eco-scheme via the agricultural practices route, the farmer must reach level 1 or 2 in all the categories below :

• The crop rotation of the farm
• Permanent prairies (PP) (if the farmer owns historical grasslands)
• Inter-rows of permanent crops (PC) (if the farmer practices arboriculture, viticulture or grows asparagus)

If the levels reached differ between categories, the lowest level among all categories will be retained for the eco-scheme.

Crop rotation of the farm

To benefit from aid in this category, the farmer must obtain a total of 4 points to reach level 1 and a total of 5 points or more to reach level 2.

The objectives to be met to earn points are presented below :

  Typical example of a points calculation sheet on crop rotation diversity (Source : Chambre d'agriculture d'Indre-et-Loire)

FAMILY / BONUS			ELIGIBLE SURFACE THRESHOLD	NUMBER OF POINTS
Temporary grasslands and fallows			5 to 30 % of AL	2
			30 to 50 % of AL	3
			At least 50 % of AL	4
Nitrogen-fixing crops (soybean, alfalfa, clover, bean, pea, chickpea, lentil, lupin, fava bean…)			5 to 10 % of AL (or more than 5 ha of AL)	2
			At least 10 % of AL	3
Cereals, row crops and oilseeds	Winter cereals (oat, durum wheat, soft wheat, barley…)		At least 10 % of AL	1	Score capped at 4 points
	Spring cereals (soft wheat, durum wheat, maize…)		At least 10 % of AL	1
	Row crops (beet, potatoes)		At least 10 % of AL	1
	Winter oilseeds (rapeseed and winter turnip rape, mustard…)		At least 7 % of AL	1
	Spring oilseeds (sunflower, camelina, safflower, nyjer…)		At least 5 % of AL	1
	OR Total cereals, row crops and oilseeds		Total surface in cereals, row crops and oilseeds of at least 10 % of AL (valid only if 0 points in each of the cereals, row crops and oilseeds categories)	1
Other crops of AL (vegetables, rice, hemp, flax, tobacco, millet, buckwheat, sweet corn…)			5 to 10 % of AL	1
			10 to 25 % of AL	2
			25 to 50 % of AL	3
			50 to 75 % of AL	4
			More than 75 % of AL	5
Small AL bonus			Less than 10 ha of AL	2
Permanent prairies bonus			10 to 40 % of UAA	1
			40 to 75 % of UAA	2
			More than 75 % of UAA	3

Permanent Prairies

To benefit from aid in this category, the farmer must have maintained their permanent grasslands from the previous year without ploughing (nor use of phytosanitary products in the case of grasslands mentioned in the Natura 2000 sites - BCAE 9)  :

• To validate level 1, at least 80% of the permanent grassland surfaces must be maintained without ploughing.
• To validate level 2, at least 90% of the permanent grassland surfaces must be maintained without ploughing.

Inter-rows of permanent crops (vine and arboriculture)

To benefit from aid in this category, the inter-row grass cover rate determines the level  :

• To reach level 1, the inter-row grass cover rate must be between 75 and 95%.
• To reach level 2, the inter-row grass cover rate must be at least 95%.

Note : Grass cover every other row corresponds to a 50% rate and thus is not sufficient to reach level 1.

Case studies

For a 50 ha arable farm with the following crop rotation :

• 25 ha of winter durum wheat = 1 point (more than 10% of arable land in winter cereals)

• 11 ha of alfalfa = 3 points (more than 10% of arable land in legumes)
• 4 ha of spring barley = 0 points (less than 10% of arable land in spring cereals)
• 10 ha of sunflower = 1 point (more than 10% of arable land in spring oilseeds)

A total of 5 points allows access to level 2 of the eco-scheme (€82/ha).

For a 30 ha arable farm and 5 ha of vineyards :

• 10 ha of vegetables = 3 points (25 to 50% of arable land in other crops)
• 10 ha of temporary grassland = 3 points (30 to 50% of arable land in temporary grassland)
• 10 ha of maize = 1 point (more than 10% of arable land in spring cereals)
• 5 ha of vineyard with grass cover every other row (50%) = 0 points (grass cover less than 75% of inter-rows)

The total score on arable land is 7 points but the obligation of inter-row grass cover on permanent crops not being met (minimum 3 rows out of 4), this farm does not qualify for eco-scheme aid.

The certification route

To access the eco-scheme via the certification route, the following conditions must be met :

Summary diagram of the certification access route (Source: Agrigestion)

The farmer will reach level 1 aid if :

• They have reached level 2+ of the environmental certification (EC). The farmer reaches level 2+ environmental certification by validating EC 2 and at least one of the 4 indicators of the High Environmental Value HVE label (Biodiversity, Irrigation, Fertilizer and Phyto-Pharmaceutical Products).

• They commit to following requirements in precision agriculture (use of decision support tools) or a waste recycling approach (Adivalor certification).

The farmer will automatically reach level 2 aid if :

• their farm is certified HVE level 3 of conditionality,
• Or 100% of their UAA is certified or in conversion to Organic Farming (OF).
  

The Agroecological Infrastructures (AEI) route

To access the eco-scheme via the AEI route, the farmer must :

• have at least 7% of their UAA in AEI to reach level 1.
• have at least 10% of their UAA in AEI to reach level 2.

Recall that by choosing this access route, the farmer will not be able to benefit from the additional €7/ha premium on EIAs, unlike the two previous routes.

Parcels fulfilling a nitrogen-fixing function must be excluded from calculations.

Type of agroecological infrastructures (AEI) and fallow land	AEI equivalence coefficient	Definitions (source : PSN validated)
Fallow land	1 ha = 1 ha	Agricultural areas subject to no use or valorization (no mowing, no grazing) for a period of 6 months from March 1 to August 31. Fallow land must not be subject to any use of phytosanitary products during the valorization prohibition period.
Honey fallows	1 ha = 1.5 ha	Agricultural areas subject to no use or valorization (no mowing, no grazing) for a period of 6 months from April 15 to October 15 and carrying a cover favorable to pollinators. (National list of covers to be confirmed by decree. Cover regrowth tolerated) Fallow land must not be subject to any use of phytosanitary products during the valorization prohibition period.
Non-productive borders : (Buffer strips along watercourses, field or forest edges)	1 linear meter (lm) = 9 m² (1111 lm = 1 ha)	Wooded or herbaceous linear surface limiting erosion and leaching not used for agricultural production but by derogation, may be mowed or grazed provided it remains distinguishable from the adjacent arable land parcel. It may be a buffer strip established under BCAE 4, a buffer strip parallel to a watercourse not referenced under BCAE 4, a water body, field edge or forest edge. When established along a forest edge, the strip must have a minimum width of 1 meter; in all other cases, it must be 5 meters wide to be counted under BCAE 8.
Hedges	1 lm = 20 m² (1000 lm = 2 ha)	A hedge is defined as a linear unit of woody vegetation, with a width ≤ 20 meters, planted flat, on a bank or in a hollow, with : - presence of shrubs and, if applicable, presence of trees and/or other woody plants (brambles, broom, gorse…), - or presence of trees and other woody plants (brambles, broom, gorse…) Notes: Hedges protected by BCAE 8 are less than 10 m wide.
Tree alignments	1 lm = 10 m² / (1000 lm = 1 ha)	Tree alignments where the space between tree crowns is strictly less than 5 meters.
Isolated trees	1 tree = 30 m²	Tree separate from a group or alignment of trees.
Groves	1 ha = 1.5 ha	Non-linear element of trees or shrubs whose crowns overlap to form a cover of 50 ares at most.
Ponds	1 ha = 1.5 ha	Water body with a surface area ≤ 50 ares. Artificial reservoirs made of plastic or concrete are not ponds. Riparian vegetation, at the water’s edge, with a maximum width of 10 meters, can be included in the pond surface.
Unlined ditches	1 lm = 10 m² (1000 lm = 1 ha)	Linear structure dug to channel temporary waters. The ditch must have a width ≤ 10 meters at all points and must not be lined.
Traditional walls	1 lm = 1 m²	Construction in natural stones (such as stone cutting or white stone…) without use of concrete or cement materials. Retaining or masonry walls are not included in this category. A traditional stone wall must have a width > 0.1 meter and ≤ 2 meters; its height must be > 0.5 meter and ≤ 2 meters.

List of ecological interest surfaces, definitions and AEI equivalences

How to choose the best access route?

The farmer must proceed by elimination analysis if they want to benefit from the highest aid amount with the least new requirements to fulfill. The decision support tool below is one of many proposed by Chambers of Agriculture :

Example of decision support tool (Source: Indre-et-Loire Chamber of Agriculture)