© Smileus/Adobe Stock Commissioned by the German Farmers’ Association (DBV), this HFFA Research Paper by Helmut Karl and Steffen Noleppa quantifies the financial burden of EU environmental regulations on German farmers and compares these costs with those faced by non-EU competitors.
While EU agricultural policy emphasizes sustainability, the actual costs borne by farmers to meet environmental standards are often overlooked. Current policy discussions around the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) focus heavily on environmental outcomes, yet little attention is paid to the compliance burden on farm operations.
The study calculates compliance costs associated with key EU directives and regulations, including the Water Framework Directive, the Fertiliser Ordinance, plant protection and animal welfare regulations, air quality measures, and administrative requirements such as cross-compliance and greening. It also benchmarks these costs against those incurred by non-EU producers to assess competitive impacts.
Compliance with EU environmental standards costs German agriculture over EUR 5.2 billion annually.
For a typical commercial family farm, this equates to approximately EUR 28,000 per year or EUR 367 per hectare.
EU farmers face significantly higher regulatory costs than many non-EU competitors, placing them at a structural disadvantage in global markets.
These financial pressures contribute to lower farm incomes and should be considered in future CAP reform discussions.
More information and supplementary material can also be found on the website of the German Farmers’ Association (DBV – Deutscher Bauernverband).
