© ysuel/Adobe Stock Prepared by HFFA Research in collaboration with Dr. Wilhelm Klümper and supported by BASF SE, this research study analyses the land use implications of major biodiversity-related policy measures in German arable farming.
Across the EU and Germany, numerous political initiatives aim to enhance biodiversity within agricultural landscapes. While diverse in design, many of these measures involve either taking land out of conventional production or altering farming practices, with potentially significant implications for arable land use. To inform policy discussions, a clear identification of those policies and their effects on land requirements is essential.
HFFA Research, together with external consultant Dr. Wilhelm Klümper, conducted an in-depth analysis to identify and quantify the land use implications of major biodiversity-related policy measures affecting German arable farming. The study focused on three major reform packages:
The 2023 revision of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
Germany’s Action Program for Insect Conservation (Aktionsprogramm Insektenschutz)
The Farm to Fork and EU Biodiversity Strategies under the European Green Deal
The research was based on Germany’s total arable land and involved a detailed review of nine individual policy measures. These were analyzed according to their legal definitions and strategic frameworks to estimate their respective land requirements.
The findings highlight substantial variation in how much land different policy measures might require, along with significant uncertainty regarding their effectiveness in achieving biodiversity, climate, and food security objectives. This underscores the complexity of evaluating biodiversity measures in isolation and points to a clear need for further interdisciplinary research.
The results were publicly presented in June 2022 during a BASF SE press conference, marking the formal launch of the publication.
