Conservation of the agricultural landscape

The project

The project is divided into two differentiated actions that share the common objective of maintaining the current agricultural landscape.  Both actions consist of providing financial aid to farmers and land owners within the European regulatory framework for aid.

These actions are as follows:

Measure 1: Crop diversification on traditional sustainable farms in the Balearic Islands.

The purpose of the aid is to recognise and compensate some of the environmental services and positive externalities generated by farmers who run diversified operations.

Grant amounts will be linked to how farms perform actions generating positive side effects on the environment, and different levels of grants will be given depending on compliance, for example:

- Maintaining the agri-forest mosaic with a variety of crops and preserving forest areas.

- Maintaining soil fertility by planting legumes, rotating crops and maintaining livestock associated with farming.

- Maintaining plant cover that prevents erosion and improves water infiltration.

- Maintaining woody crops.

- Quality marks or differentiated production.

Measure 2: Aid to replant non-irrigated woody species (apricot, almond, carob, fig, peach, olive and plum trees) that are traditional on the Balearic Islands.

These crops have suffered greatly from droughts and climate change and they have also recently been affected by new pests that have had significant negative impacts on them. Most of the farms with woody species are finding it difficult to replace dead trees, and as a result of the decrease in production potential and the diseases affecting them, they may be abandoned. Aid to replant trees can rejuvenate and improve existing plant matter in the islands’ crop fields.