European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF)

The European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) is part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), embedded in national CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs) of the period 2023-2027, together with the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) (see page on EAFRD).

The eco-schemes provide support for annual commitments on a wide range of practices, though the legal framework does not prevent setting multi-annual interventions in which farmers are requested to commit several years. The payments are granted for practices that go beyond the requirements under the enhanced conditionality and other national rules and can be additional to the basic income support (top-up to Basic Income Support for Sustainability, or BISS) or compensate the additional costs and income loss resulting from the commitments.

The eco-schemes, while contributing to income support together with the other direct payment measures, play an important role in enhancing the delivery of environmental and climate outcomes, addressing climate, environment, and animal welfare challenges that agriculture faces and combatting anti-microbial resistance.

The European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA, 2024) highlights the importance of the Common agricultural policy in ensuring “fair farmer income, competitiveness, environmental care, climate action, biodiversity preservation and innovation, incorporating eco-schemes, climate-friendly practices and crisis reserves.”

The rationale for this is that measures funded under the CAP to mitigate and adapt to climate change, enhance sustainable management of water resources, prevent and restore degraded soils, maintain and create landscape features or non-productive areas, and carbon farming etc. all enhance climate preparedness. These actions strengthen the capacity of agricultural systems, including crops, livestock, and land use to anticipate, respond to, and recover from climate-related risks such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, and shifting growing seasons.

What does it finance?

The eco-schemes are voluntary schemes funding practices in the areas of:

Climate change mitigation, including reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural practices, as well as maintenance of existing carbon stores and enhancement of carbon sequestration;
Climate change adaptation, including actions to improve resilience of food production systems and animal and plant diversity for stronger resistance to diseases and climate change;
Protection or improvement of water quality and reduction of pressure on water resources;
Prevention of soil degradation, soil restoration climate change mitigation, improvement of soil fertility and of nutrient management and soil biota;
Protection of biodiversity, conservation or restoration of habitats or species, including maintenance and creation of landscape features or non-productive areas;
Sustainable and reduced use of pesticides, in particular pesticides that present a risk for human health or environment;
Enhancing animal welfare or combat antimicrobial resistance.

Based on the 28 CAP Strategic Plans adopted at the end of 2022, Member States submitted 158 eco-schemes with a big variety of designed and supported practices, covering around 110 million hectares in 2023, 68% of total UAA. The share of direct payments allocated to eco-schemes varied from 15% to 34% with an EU average of nearly 24%.

At EU level, 19% of the total public expenditure in 2024 at EU level is dedicated to eco-schemes. Eco-schemes targeted to soil health are the most numerous and account for 30% of the overall; those addressing biodiversity and landscape features represent nearly 20% and those on grazing and grassland management account for 15%. Support to organic farming and pesticide management account for 6% each. A few plans also include specific schemes targeted to peatland and wetlands (2%) and animal-related actions (5%). Significant progress on protecting and improving soils and enhance carbon sequestration, 50% and 35% of EU’s UAA respectively, is shown.

Contribution to climate preparedness can be achieved through a number of eco-schemes with a broad range of practices, notably:

Soil management (increase of soil organic carbon, catch and cover crops, erosion protection, reduced tillage, soil cover, crop diversification, legumes, buffer strips);  
conservative agriculture and integrated production; 
commitments related to grassland management, permanent pasture and forage autonomy; 
conversion of arable land to grassland, agro-ecological land use change;
agroforestry, afforestation;  
conservation of genetic resources, local breeds and varieties; 
maintenance of fallow land and landscape elements to preserve the ecosystem services they provide;
management of landscape features to enhance their biodiversity value (e.g., restoration, appropriate pruning of hedgerows, mowing of field strips, cleaning);
the creation of new landscape features (e.g., grass/flowering strips, buffer strips, small biotopes, plantation of hedges, trees);
maintenance and conversion to organic farming;
wetland management, sustainable water management and measures related to irrigation

What kind of funding does it provide?

The eco-schemes are financed 100% by the EU budget and have been prepared on a national or regional basis. While the European Commission checks and approves the eco-schemes, via the submission of the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) and its amendments, the decisions on the selection of projects and the granting of payments are managed by national and regional authorities (following the shared management principle). The support for a particular eco-scheme shall take the form of an annual payment for all eligible hectares covered by the commitments. The EAGF programme provides funding mainly through grants.

Which authorities are responsible for this instrument?

The EAGF is implemented in shared management between the Member States and the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI, European Commission).

Which countries are eligible?

EU Member States.

Who is this call for?

Member States provide support through eco-schemes to active farmers or groups of active farmers who make commitments to observe agricultural practices beneficial for the climate, the environment and animal welfare and combatting antimicrobial resistance designed in their CAP Strategic Plans.

How to apply and other relevant information

EU Funding & Tenders Portalopens in new tab

Program website: CAP funds - European Commissionopens in new tab

Project examples

Here are a few examples:

Germany supports the grass strips and the creation/maintenance of flowering strips on arable parcels as well as the growth of diverse crops in arable land, including the cultivation of a minimum 10 % of leguminous crops;
Belgium-Flanders targets buffer strips along watercourses and supports the cultivation of environment- biodiversity-friendly and/or climate-resilient crops;
Austria targets agroforestry strips (hedges, trees) on the arable areas;
Cyprus targets buffer strips, field margins, and individual trees;
Denmark supports small biotopes (spaces providing a living place for animals and plants) on arable areas;
Slovenia supports the flowering of buffer strips, the maintenance and creation of new hedgerows in areas with low density of LFs and Natura 2000 sites and greening cropland;
Finland targets the setting of unproductive field strips/areas seeded with crops and flowers for pollinators as well as crops favourable for fauna;
Greece supports the use of resilient and adapted species and varieties, targeting crops that require only rainwater or have low irrigation needs.
Croatia targets a minimum share of 20 %legumes within agricultural areas.

Overall, the eco-schemes show great potential to contribute to the achievement of the EU’s environmental and climate targets by helping farmers build resilience and manage their resources more sustainably, thereby enhancing climate preparedness.