The new European Council Regulation on support for rural development (EC) No. 1698/2005 has opened up the opportunity for two important innovations for the design and implementation of agrienvironmental measures: local action groups (LAG) according to the LEADER approach and calls for tender....

EC Regulation 1257/99 of 17 May 1999 underlines the intention of the European Commission of an integrated rural development policy. In this paper the chances are examined that this new policy orientation offers for a more multifunctional agriculture. Possibilities for the implementation of...

Until now, organic farming in Austria saw its largest growth in the period between 1994 and 1998. The following factors all contributed to Austria achieving the highest percentage of organic farms in Europe: the early addition of guidelines for organic crop production and animal husbandry to the...

Organic farming is promoted financially in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1989. The entire segment shows a very dynamic development since that time. In the past eleven years, the organically managed land area has increased more than ten-fold. Now, a large bouquet of measures are offered...

In this paper I review the evolution of the sustainability concept. This is followed by a description of three "classical" systems of sustainable agriculture. None of these systems were or are capable of generating growth of output consistent with modern rates of growth in demand. I then turn to...

The following analysis leads to an empirically based ranking, which embodies political decision makers to evaluate the necessity of horizontal co-ordination for different issues concerning nature and landscape conservation. First of all the relevant German law and order as well as its spatial...

A variety of agri-environmental instruments can be used to combat water pollution by pesticides in agriculture according to the regulation EC 1257/1999. The chosen policies should be politically feasible and capable to prevent external effects cost-effectively. One possible policy instrument for...

This paper will discuss some of the results from studying Planetor, a computer program that the Center for Farm Financial Management is working on, to try to use it with Italian farm data, and to test if and how it would be possible to develop an Italian version of the program. Planetor is a...