Development of Eco-Schemes as an Important Environmental Measure in Areas Facing Natural or Other Specific Constraints Under the Common Agriculture Policy 2023–2027: Evidence from Poland

Abstract

Institutional environmental measures play a fundamental role in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023–2027, which primarily focuses on eco-schemes and for which the EU Member States must allocate part of their direct payment budget. The total budget under eco-schemes in the EU is an important part of Pillar I of the CAP 2023–2027. The aim of this study is to determine the capacity of Polish agriculture in ANCs to adopt practices under eco-schemes in the first year (2023) of the CAP 2023–2027. In the international literature, there is an apparent paucity of such analyses conducted for the newly designated ANCs in the EU Member States based on the European Commission’s guidelines under the CAP 2014–2020 and applicable under the CAP 2023–2027. Practices under eco-schemes are now fundamental for EU agriculture, increasing soil fertility, using rational fertilization and, as a result, improving the quality of products offered to consumers. It was pointed out that at this moment in ANCs, the use of eco-schemes is not satisfactory. The conclusions emphasized that in the EU, including Poland, eco-schemes should be implemented by as many farmers as possible, regardless of the size of the farm they have and the natural conditions in which they carry out agricultural production.

1. Introduction

In recent years in the European Union (EU), there have been increasing societal expectations and requirements related to the necessity of reliably assessing the actions taken by farms toward the protection of the natural environment, particularly in relation to the European Common Agricultural Policy (EU CAP) [1]. Farmers, for their own and society’s benefit, should take care of the condition of the agricultural land they use. This is all the more so because, globally, about 1/3 of the total area of agricultural land is currently undergoing at least moderate degradation caused, among other things, by erosion leading to a decline in soil organic matter [2]. For example, in the EU, about 60–70% of soils are in an unsatisfactory condition, caused by their unsustainable use [3]. These soils are increasingly degraded due to erosion, compaction, pollution, salinization, desertification, and a loss of organic matter and biodiversity [4,5,6]. This state of affairs is particularly unfavorable when agriculture is treated as an important source of many public goods that are of increasing value to societies. After all, healthy soils provide biomass, raw materials and food, while regulating the climate and the water and nutrient cycles [2,7].

In agriculture in the EU, including that of Poland, one of the important challenges for farms is meeting the current requirements for natural environment protection under conditions of local land abandonment in areas with difficult farming conditions established within areas facing natural or other specific constraints (ANCs) [8,9,10]. This is particularly significant given that ANCs in Poland account for 58.7% of the total agricultural area. In this context, it should also be added that in the EU as a whole, the share of these areas is similar, at 58.6% of the total agricultural area [11]. This means that in the EU, including Poland, ANCs play an important role in contributing to the total production potential of agriculture. A lack of concern for soil fertility in ANCs in the EU reduces land productivity and yields, and negatively affects the level of agricultural production, food security, international agri-food markets and the global economy. As a result, this state of affairs has not only high environmental costs but also additional negative social impacts.

An important asset of ANCs—particularly valued by EU societies today—is their often high natural value, which predisposes them to providing a range of environmental goods, including high biodiversity and diversified landscapes [12,13]. However, the weaknesses of ANCs include the presence of low-quality soils and, in the case of mountain ANCs, difficult terrain and a much shorter growing season for crops than in lowland areas, which significantly limits the selection of beneficial crops. Farms in these areas, therefore, often incur higher production costs and obtain lower production results [14,15]. ANCs, therefore, face serious challenges in sustaining agriculture as a source of both high-quality market goods and environmental goods, especially since they have been experiencing a steady decline in agricultural land use or conversion to other uses for many years.

The EU sees great potential for environmental protection through agriculture in ANCs and links the benefits of supporting them to sustaining economic viability and raising environmental awareness and willingness among farmers in these areas to make changes related to better environmental protection. An important opportunity to support agriculture in these areas could be participating in institutional environmental measures under CAP 2023–2027.

Institutional environmental measures play a fundamental role in the CAP 2023–2027. First of all, these are the eco-schemes to which the EU Member States must allocate a part of their direct payment budget under the current agricultural policy [16,17]. The total budget under eco-schemes is EUR 44.7 billion against the background of EUR 190 billion under the entire Pillar I of the CAP 2023–2027 [18]. According to the European Commission, the EU Member States should dedicate at least 25% of their Pillar I CAP 2023–2027 budget to eco-scheme payments. However, it is possible to reduce their share in the total amount of direct payments if more support funds are allocated to environmental measures in the Pillar II CAP 2023–2027 [19]. France has the largest amount dedicated to the eco-schemes (EUR 8.53 billion), while The Netherlands has the largest share (32%) in the total budget under the Pillar I of the CAP 2023–2027 [18]. The eco-schemes are mandatory for the EU Member States, but their implementation by farmers is voluntary [20,21]. According to the European Commission, the eco-schemes should be prioritized for environmental protection and should be designed to meet the specific needs and priorities of a given EU Member State. Every EU Member State has the flexibility to customize their eco-schemes to specific national environmental and climate needs [22,23].

The quality of natural conditions for farming generally affects the direction, organization and scale of agricultural production, as well as the production and economic effects obtained. In this situation, questions arise about the propensity of farms from areas with different natural conditions to implement eco-schemes.

In this study, we proposed the hypothesis that the areas that should be particularly predestined for the development of eco-schemes are those with less favorable natural conditions for agriculture, where there is generally a need for additional measures regarding soil conservation. Such practices are necessary here and result from the often low natural organic matter content of arable land, the threat of increased erosion and the consequent loss of organic carbon, as well as the need to maintain permanent grasslands, which are often characterized in these areas by a high natural value. On the other hand, eco-schemes have a lot to offer agriculture, regardless of the natural conditions, as they increase soil fertility, use rational fertilization and, as a result, improve the quality of the products offered. In addition, the payments used for them can account for a significant part of the farm income of eco-schemes’ beneficiaries and influence their decisions regarding production development.

This raises questions concerning the type, number, and scale of the eco-scheme practices implemented by Polish farms in ANCs under the CAP 2023–2027. This study is intended to fill the research gap regarding the determination of the capacity of Polish agriculture in ANCs to absorb eco-scheme practices under the CAP 2023–2027. There is an apparent paucity in the international literature of such analyses conducted for the newly designated ANCs that are based on the European Commission’s guidelines under the CAP 2014–2020 and applicable under the CAP 2023–2027.

2. Research Background

2.1. The Importance of ANCs in the EU: Theoretical Approach

Modern economic theory, in order to interpret the changes in economic reality well, including those related to agriculture, should take into account the choices made by individuals, not only from the aspect of personal economic wellness, but also from environmental and social aspects. In the context of preserving agricultural areas in good condition, this constatation becomes fundamentally importance. In order to keep agricultural soils in good condition, the presence of institutional rules of conduct that are capable of regulating and motivating expected behavior is essential. In European Union (EU) agriculture, this is served by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is revised every few years and is becoming increasingly sensitive to public concerns about the environmental. Institutional measures aimed at protecting the natural environment play a major role in the CAP 2023–2027 and, as a result, it supports the goals of the European Green Deal Strategy for 2050. On the other hand, however, the current EU agricultural policy is expected to support agriculture in achieving a balance between providing society with a good natural environment and ensuring a satisfactory agricultural income for farmers.

For the European Commission, one of its primary objectives under the European Green Deal strategy, its thematic strategies, and the CAP 2023–2027 is to strengthen existing efforts to protect the natural environment, including in ANCs, which are often an important source of environmental goods valued by society, such as diverse landscapes and high biodiversity [1,3,24,25,26,27,28,29]. Hence, in ANCs, it becomes particularly important to raise awareness and willingness among farmers to protect the natural environment, as well as support the economic viability of often marginally located rural areas of high social importance [30,31,32,33,34]. This is all the more so because farms in these areas generally have poorer economic performance and fewer opportunities for development compared to farms located outside ANCs [14,35,36]. The European Union supports these areas under European policy from 1975. Currently, this support is used to continue agricultural production in disadvantaged areas and to maintain and promote sustainable farming systems there. In other words, support for farming in ANCs is treated as compensation for producing not only market goods, but goods and services of the environment, which are important for society but not rewarded by the market. The benefits of this support involve both raising farmers’ awareness and inclination to protect the natural environment, and sustaining the vitality of often marginally located rural areas of great importance to society. On the other hand, given the high importance of ANCs in the EU, they play an important role in contributing to food self-sufficiency for the European community, including Poland, and preserving the EU’s ability to export agri-food products. The need to maintain agricultural production in ANCs also arises from the need to protect soils from degradation (erosion, acidification, soil organic matter losses), maintain many of their environmental functions, including retention, and maintain a diverse and valuable landscape. Thus, in the EU, including Poland, ANCs, in addition to market functions, also have a number of functions related to the protection of the natural environment, for which they are particularly predestined. This is evidenced by the large presence of areas with extensive agriculture in them, meeting the requirements of the European Union under the concept of High Nature Value farmlands (HNVf) and Natura 2000 areas. In addition, farmers in these areas are strongly inclined to take measures that specifically enhance environmental goods under the EU CAP [37].

In the EU Member States, the natural farming conditions are characterized by spatial variability and often a high proportion of ANCs. As mentioned in the introduction, in the European Union, ANCs currently represent 58.6% of the total agricultural area [11]. Of these, ANCs with natural constraints dominate (33.5%), followed by mountain areas (17.0%) and areas with specific constraints (8.1%). Malta and Luxembourg have the highest share of ANCs, with ANCs comprising 100% of each of their total agricultural areas. Latvia (88.8%) and Luxembourg (85.8%) have the highest share of ANCs with natural constraints; France (22.5%) and Luxembourg (14.2%) have the highest share of ANCs with specific constraints; and Slovenia (55.8%) and Finland (52.7%) have the highest share of mountain ANCs. Denmark (2.5%), The Netherlands (11.9%), and Hungary (16.5%) have the smallest total share of ANCs [5] (Figure 1 and

Table 1. Percentage share of ANCs in total utilized agricultural area (UAA) in EU-27 in 2021 (%).

	ANCs with Natural Constraints	ANCs with Specific Constraints	Mountain ANCs	Total Share of ANCs
EU-27	33.5%	8.1%	17.0%	58.6%
Malta	0.0%	100.0%	0.0%	100.0%
Luxembourg	85.8%	14.2%	0.0%	100.0%
Finland	46.0%	0.9%	52.7%	99.6%
Latvia	88.8%	4.1%	0.0%	92.9%
Portugal	60.7%	3.8%	25.5%	90.0%
Spain	52.9%	3.0%	30.6%	86.5%
Ireland	68.5%	8.4%	0.0%	76.9%
Slovenia	8.3%	12.1%	55.8%	76.2%
Cyprus	63.8%	3.8%	6.5%	74.1%
Greece	22.4%	4.1%	44.2%	70.7%
Austria	5.7%	8.0%	49.6%	63.3%
Slovakia	29.0%	8.4%	25.4%	62.8%
Italy	26.5%	1.8%	31.6%	59.9%
Poland	47.0%	10.0%	1.7%	58.7%
EU-27	33.5%	8.1%	17.0%	58.6%
Czech Republic	35.3%	6.5%	14.7%	56.5%
France	15.0%	22.5%	16.4%	53.9%
Romania	33.6%	1.4%	15.1%	50.1%
Sweden	37.2%	1.3%	10.7%	49.2%
Germany	32.2%	7.0%	3.5%	42.7%
Croatia	34.7%	3.5%	3.1%	41.3%
Estonia	35.6%	5.3%	0.0%	40.9%
Lithuania	30.5%	2.7%	0.0%	33.2%
Bulgaria	5.5%	0.5%	19.2%	25.2%
Belgium	13.6%	9.8%	0.0%	23.4%
The Netherlands	0.0%	11.9%	0.0%	11.9%
Hungary	0.0%	9.1%	0.0%	9.1%
Denmark	0.0%	2.5%	0.0%	2.5%

Source: [11].

).

In the EU, 23 Member States have allocated additional support to ANCs under Pillar II of the CAP 2023–2027 (Figure 2). The budget supporting ANCs is set at EUR 18,716.2 million, representing 17% of the total Pillar II budget of the CAP 2023–2027. The largest budgets for this measure are allocated to France (EUR 5500 million), Poland (EUR 1480 million), Italy (EUR 1460.2 million), Greece (EUR 1275.4 million), and Ireland (EUR 1250 million). Denmark (EUR 13.1 million), Malta (EUR 14 million), and Cyprus (EUR 26.5 million) have the smallest budgets for the ANC measure [38].

2.2. Eco-Schemes as an Important Environmental Measure Under the CAP 2023–2027

Eco-schemes are a new component of the direct payment system under the CAP 2023–2027, supporting the implementation of practices that are beneficial to the environment, climate and animal welfare [20,23]. These are annual, paid practices that are adjusted to the conditions and needs of the EU Member States to meet the environmental and climate objectives of current European policy for the protection of soil, water, climate, animal welfare and biodiversity in agricultural production [39,40]. In the EU Member States, the eco-schemes are designed to promote practices that contribute to improving agricultural income by increasing soil fertility, rational fertilization, and crop quality. These subsidies are able to account for a significant part of farmers’ income and influence their decision-making regarding production development [41]. The eco-schemes, together with other environmental measures under the current European policy, will play an important role in the EU’s efforts to achieve the goals of the European Green Deal. There is no doubt that the EU needs multifaceted eco-schemes with solid funding, clear goals and proven benefits to improve agricultural sustainability [42]. However, they must be continuously evaluated in farms in order to achieve correct implementation and deliver the best economic and environmental results [43]. Technological innovations, including satellite solutions applied to EU agriculture, will have much to offer in this area [44]. In CAP 2023–2027, the total budget under the eco-schemes is EUR 44.7 billion. France (EUR 8.53 billion), Spain (EUR 5.55 billion), Germany (EUR 4.94 billion), Italy (EUR 4.4 billion) and Poland (EUR 4.33 billion) have the largest eco-scheme budget. In contrast, this budget is smallest in Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta, where agricultural production is carried out on a small area relative to other EU Member States (Figure 3). EU countries have different levels of support for eco-schemes, as a result of having different areas of UAA to which direct payments are due. Eco-schemes are part of direct payments that are dedicated specifically to the protection of the natural environment. At present, eco-schemes have taken hold to varying degrees in EU countries. Given their importance in the protection of the natural environment and the increasingly negative changes in agricultural markets, their use is likely to grow in EU agriculture.

According to the European Commission’s findings, the EU Member States should allocate at least 25% of their budget for Pillar I of the CAP 2023–2027 to eco-scheme payments. However, it is possible to reduce their share of the total amount of direct payments if a proportionally larger amount of support funds is allocated to environmental measures in Pillar II of the CAP 2023–2027 [19]. It turns out that 13 of the EU Member States have contributed 25% of their budget for Pillar I of the CAP 2023–2027 to the eco-schemes. In six EU Member States, their budget is at a level higher than 25% for Pillar I of the CAP 2023–2027. The Netherlands (32%) and Czechia (30%) contribute the largest share of their budget for Pillar I of the CAP 2023–2027 to eco-schemes. The smallest share of the eco-schemes is held by Hungary, Austria and Slovenia, with 15% each (Figure 4).

In the EU Member States, 158 eco-schemes have been prepared (Figure 5). They most often concern the protection of soils (47 practices), landscape and biodiversity (30). In contrast, they are most rarely used to protect water and wetlands. It should be noted that in some EU Member States, organic farming has also been included within the eco-schemes. In addition, in the EU member states, six eco-schemes are not related to a specific land use on farms and concern the entire farm, i.e., they oblige the farm to allocate all agricultural land to the eco-schemes [18].

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Materials

This study analyzed thirteen practices within five area-based eco-schemes that were available to Polish farms under the EU CAP 2023–2027 in 2023 (

Table 2. The eco-schemes and their practices implemented in Polish agriculture under the CAP 2023–2027 in 2023.

Eco-Scheme/Practice Within an Eco-Scheme
1. Carbon farming and nutrient management	1.1. Extensive permanent grassland with livestock 1.2. Winter catch crops/intercrops 1.3. Fertilization plans (basic variant) 1.4. Fertilization plans (liming variant) 1.5. Diversified sowing structure 1.6. Mixing solid manure on arable land within 12 h of application 1.7. Using liquid manure with methods other than splashing 1.8. Reduced tillage systems 1.9. Mixing straw with soil
2. Areas with melliferous plants
3. Water retention on permanent grassland
4. Integrated plant production
5. Biological plant protection

Source: MARD 2023.

). Relevant data on the number of beneficiaries, as well as the scale and territorial distribution of applied practices within the eco-schemes, were taken from the database of the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture (ARMA); in Poland, this serves as the public institution implementing direct payments under the current CAP.

3.2. Methodsc

The distribution of beneficiary farms, the area of agricultural land, and the number and type of eco-schemes implemented were established by considering the natural conditions. For Polish holdings, this was achieved by conducting relevant analyses of the agriculture within communes where at least 75% of the total utilized agricultural areas (UAAs) were in ANCs, compared to the total agriculture (Figure 6 and Figure 7). In Poland, the current delimitation of ANCs was carried out by the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation—State Research Institute (IUNG PIB) and the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics—National Research Institute (IERiGŻ PIB) (including by the authors of this study) in 2019, on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the European Commission [13]. The main advantage of using the newly designated ANCs in the EU is the use of the same delimitation criteria in the member states. The results of this analysis can therefore be used in other EU countries and beyond for comparative analysis.

4. Results

4.1. State of ANCs in Poland

In Poland, agriculture operating in difficult and even particularly difficult soil conditions is of great importance, and there is a need for additional efforts to protect them effectively. These efforts are due to the low natural organic matter content of soils, where the effects of erosion and the consequent loss of organic carbon are quickly visible. In Polish agriculture, these areas play an important role. These facts indicate the existing threats posed by the further degradation of the country’s soils and the need to take preventive measures. In Poland, ANCs areas currently account for 58.7% of the UAA, including 47% with natural constraints, 10% with specific constraints, and 1.7% with mountainous areas. In the EU, their share is slightly lower, at 58.6% [11,45].

Since 2019, ANCs in Poland have been divided into five zones: (1) natural constraints Zone I; (2) natural constraints Zone II; (3) specific type Zone I; (4) specific type Zone II; and (5) mountain type (Figure 8). These areas are found in 2149 communes, representing 86.8% of all communes. In 1299 communes, their share is equal to or greater than 75% of the total UAA; these are referred to as communes with a high share of ANCs (Figure 8) [45].

4.2. State of Agriculture in Poland, Including ANCs Areas and the Role of Eco-Schemes

Polish agriculture is characterized primarily by a diversity of natural regional conditions. It is also characterized by variations in the strength and economic condition of farms depending on their size, expressed in hectares of agricultural land, their economic size and the type and organization (specialization) of production [46].

In Poland in 2023, there were 1235.2 thousand agricultural farms participating in the CAP 2023–2027. Communes with at least 75% ANCs contained 49.7% of the total number of farms, with these engaging in agricultural production on 47.3% of the total Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) (

Table 3. Selected organizational characteristics of agriculture in Poland, including in communes with a high share of ANCs in 2023.

Specification	All Communes	Included Communes with a High Share of ANCs
The number of agricultural holdings, including participating holdings (thousand):	1234.3	613.2
- in eco-schemes (thous.)	428.3	187.7
UAA area (thousand ha), including UAA area of participating holdings:	14,096.1	6670.1
- in eco-schemes (thousand ha)	8897.9	3495.0

Source: Own study based on ARMA data.

).

In 2023, 428.3 thousand farms applied for area-based eco-schemes, representing 1/3 of all farms in the country. These farms managed a total of 8897.9 thousand hectares of agricultural land. It should be emphasized, in these farms, the implementation of eco-schemes took place on all or part of their agricultural land, in addition, a different number of practices were implemented on this area. The most frequently chosen practice was the mixing of straw into soil, while the practice covering the largest area was reduced tillage systems [47]. Based on the data in Figure 9, which shows the share of farms covered by eco-schemes in the commune, it should be emphasized that in 2023, farms from regions with a higher level of agricultural development were more likely to participate in these measures.

Areas with at least 75% ANCs in the total UAA showed fewer farms participating in eco-schemes (30.6%) compared to the country as a whole. However, certain practices have been more than half implemented in the area of these communes: water retention on permanent grassland (79.3%), extensive permanent grasslands with livestock (71.8%), areas with melliferous plants (63.6%), mixing solid manure on arable land within 12 h of application (54.6%), the application of liquid manure by methods other than splashing (54.4%), winter catch crops/intercrops (52.9%), and diversified sowing structure (51.1%) (

Table 4. UAA area covered by eco-schemes in communes with a high share of ANCs and its share in the total area covered by each practice under eco-schemes in the CAP 2023–2027 in Poland in 2023.

Specification	UAA Under Eco-Schemes in Communes with High Share of ANCs (ha)	Share in Total UAA of Eco-Scheme (%)
Eco-Schemes: Eco-Scheme (1). Carbon Farming and Nutrient Management:
1.1. Extensive permanent grassland with livestock	111,282.3	71.8
1.2. Winter catch crops/intercrops	490,629.2	52.9
1.3. Fertilization plans (basic variant)	410,696.4	36.6
1.4. Fertilization plans (liming variant)	59,521.5	49.2
1.5. Diversified sowing structure	718,410.7	51.1
1.6. Mixing solid manure on arable land within 12 h of application	392,091.5	54.6
1.7. Application of liquidmanurewith methods other than splashing	326,369.9	54.4
1.8. Reduced tillage systems	648,294.6	31.7
1.9. Mixing straw with soil	627,663.7	32.7
Eco-scheme (2). Areas with melliferous plants	7339.6	63.6
Eco-scheme (3). Water retention on the permanent grassland	76,094.2	79.3
Eco-scheme (4). Integrated plant production	39,959.3	37.7
Eco-scheme (5). Biological plant protection	6049.7	24.5

Source: ARMA data for 2023.

).

In terms of the areas with a high proportion of ANCs, the practices most preferred by farmers were mixing straw into the soil, a diversified sowing structure and reduced tillage systems. It is reasonable to assume that these practices have been in use for a long time on a certain proportion of these beneficiary farms, and that the payment introduced rewards them for their previous actions aimed at preserving soil structure (or, more precisely, maintaining or increasing the level of organic matter and nutrients in the soil). There is no doubt that eco-schemes in Poland meet the environmental and climate objectives of the CAP, namely to contribute to the protection of soil resources, water, climate, animal welfare and biodiversity in agricultural production. They promote practices that translate into agricultural income by increasing soil fertility, the drought resistance of crops, rational fertilization, and crop quality. The idea is that eco-schemes should be implemented by as many farmers as possible, including in ANCs.

It should be emphasized that the practices indicated within the framework of eco-schemes have a lot to offer, enabling the agriculture in ANCs to increase soil fertility, improve the availability of nutrients to crops, use rational fertilization and, as a result, increase the quality of the products offered to consumers. Such practices are particularly necessary for Polish agriculture in these areas due to the often low natural organic matter content of arable land, and to prevent the locally occurring over-use of mineral fertilization and plant protection products.

5. Discussion

In the EU, approximately 157 million hectares of land is used for agricultural production, but this is characterized by varied natural farming conditions and often a high share of ANCs. In Poland, 58.7% of agricultural land is located in ANCs. The eco-schemes proposed by the European Commission under the CAP 2023–2027 have the potential to make agriculture more sustainable and climate-friendly. In 2023 in Poland, 1/3 of farms adopted eco-schemes. In other EU countries, the share of farms implementing eco-schemes was varied. In Spain, 75% of farms adopted eco-schemes. In Austria, 65% of farms joined eco-schemes [48,49]. Considering the increasing willingness of EU farms to implement eco-schemes, further education and the promotion of these practices among farmers is recommended. Information campaigns by agriculture-related institutions and actively participating agricultural advisory services can effectively help farms meet the access criteria and enhance the real benefits of participating in eco-schemes. In the EU, the CAP measures are increasingly aimed at providing high-quality food to consumers while reducing the negative impact of agricultural activities on the state of the natural environment, including reducing erosion and soil degradation [50,51,52,53,54,55]. Its environmental measures are becoming more solidly designed and better targeted so that agriculture is able to protect environmental public goods to the greatest extent possible. At the same time, ecosystem biodiversity is one of the most important public goods dependent on agriculture, since its existence and sustainability are a result of the quality of its agricultural practices [56,57,58]. In this context, much should be offered by eco-schemes practices.

Environmental measures under the CAP are the European Union’s response to the degradation of the rural environment. It should be noted that these measures tend to reflect the environmental, ecological, and socio-economic problems accompanying agriculture in individual EU Member States [59]. Within environmental measures, actions related to biodiversity are of particular importance, being the most supported aspect of the EU’s pro-environmental policies [60]. These measures often focus on restoring valuable natural habitats, promoting sustainable agricultural production systems, protecting soils and ensuring their appropriate use, safeguarding water resources, preserving landscape structures, and protecting local crop varieties and animal breeds. All of these areas are in accordance with the ordered model of agriculture and the concept of sustainable development [61].

Discussions on the CAP have so far mainly revolved around its design, the overall reform agenda, and the CAP’s ability to achieve its objectives. For example, some authors have questioned the relevance of the proposed measures to address specific challenges [62,63], while others have pointed out the mismatch between CAP objectives and the sustainable development goals [64,65]. Various authors have also argued that the CAP lacks adequate multi-level governance, advocating for an inclusive policy-making process, which is essential for the transition to a sustainable European food system [66,67,68]. Farms’ participation in environmental activities influences their sustainable and pro-environmental orientation [69]. These subsidies are important in shaping eco-efficiency. Picazo-Tadeo et al. [70] showed the positive impact of environmental measures on farm eco-efficiency. Gadanakis et al. [71] and Czyzewski et al. [72] also highlighted that farmers’ use of these measures can improve farm eco-efficiency. It is becoming increasingly clear that there is a need for policies that are linked to regional policies that advocate for agriculture; this is in order to support local sustainable production practices. Important is the distribution of financial resources that would be able to help maintain agricultural production in a sustainable and stable manner, without causing environmental damage. It is necessary to be aware of the sustainability of agriculture, which should globally provide people with food security [73,74,75,76].

Undoubtedly, farms operating under difficult farming conditions, particularly in ANCs, that are able to adapt to their constraints will maintain their profitability in the long term. One of the most important skills in these areas is conducting agricultural production in a way that favors the environment. The European Commission now sees great potential in implementing environmental protection through agriculture in ANCs, which currently cover 58.6% of the total agricultural area in the EU. It should be emphasized that the EC links the benefits of its support to maintaining economic viability, improving the economic situation of farms, and increasing the environmental awareness and willingness of farmers in these areas to protect the natural environment [77,78,79,80]. The support of farms in ANCs contributes to the maintenance of biodiversity, landscape diversity and attractiveness, and cultural heritage, which society regard as important public goods.

Studies have shown differences across EU countries in terms of agriculture and economically disadvantaged areas [81]. Our findings confirmed that farms located in areas where at least 75% of the total UAA is classified as an ANC made less use of eco-schemes in 2023. Considering the current situation in many agricultural product markets, in our opinion, payments to eco-schemes could be an important aspect of the farm income of beneficiaries in ANCs and influence their decisions regarding production development.

In Poland, there are some weaknesses regarding the implementation of eco-schemes. The most important of these is the varying strength of farmers’ willingness to implement them on a regional basis. In the first year of CAP 2023–2027, a significant number of Polish farms did not benefit from eco-scheme subsidies. Analyzing this phenomenon from a geographic perspective, it should be emphasized that farms from regions of Poland with a better structure of farms and a higher level of agricultural development more often participated in these practices. The weaknesses observed in the implementation of the eco-scheme system in Poland are present to a large extent in areas with a poorer farm structure and economically weaker farms, where unfavorable natural conditions for farming often play a major role. The reason for this may be the insufficiency of existing regional and locally specific agricultural training campaigns to encourage farmers to implement eco-scheme practices that best fit their abilities, needs and existing farming conditions.

The ongoing negative changes in the natural environment lead us to conclude that the primary challenge for policymakers setting practices within eco-schemes is ensuring that EU agriculture has sustainable and practicable remedial solutions in this regard. The design of eco-schemes should take into account the informal signals and needs coming from the EU society, which is increasingly specifying the framework and monitoring and enforcing the effectiveness of CAP implementation in the context of environmental protection.

6. Conclusions

In the EU, including Poland, farms located in ANCs represent a large portion of the production potential of agriculture. However, farming in these areas often limits the production and economic performance of farms. This is why ANC payments have been introduced in the EU to compensate farmers for the additional costs and lost income associated with maintaining agricultural activity and, thus, vital rural communities in such areas. Subsidies to farms operating in areas with specific constraints regarding efficient agricultural production are among the longest-running instruments of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

This paper compares the use of eco-schemes as an important measure dedicated to agriculture, including those implemented in ANCs in Poland in the CAP 2023–2027. The hypothesis set up has not been positively verified. The analysis indicated that farms in ANCs participated slightly less frequently in eco-schemes than farms as a whole. In ANCs, the eco-schemes concerning water retention on permanent grassland and the extensive use of permanent grassland with stocking rates had the highest share in the total area of relevant eco-schemes in Poland, while biological plant protection and reduced cropping systems had the lowest.

The European Commission, through the CAP 2023–2027, attaches great importance to achieving environmental objectives in agriculture. By using direct payment funds for sustainable practices in the form of eco-schemes, it aims to strengthen incomes in agriculture while better protecting the natural environment. However, there are a number of conditions that farmers need to meet in order to access them, and there are still some concerns at this time about their impact on the economic outcomes achieved. The submitted study highlights the importance of eco-schemes in Polish agriculture in ANCs in the first year of the CAP 2023–2027. There is no doubt that in these areas, eco-schemes should play a much greater role than they do at present.

In conclusion, multifaceted and environmentally ambitious eco-schemes with attractive financing are needed in the EU in order to improve the sustainability of agriculture, especially in ANCs. At the same time, they must be constantly evaluated on farms for proper implementation to ensure that they achieve the best economic and environmental results. For the farmers who are the beneficiaries of the CAP 2023–2027 and agriculture as a sector of the economy, it is important that the principles of the current agricultural policy on eco-schemes are largely stable, and that changes in this regard are made on an evolutionary basis, without sudden turns.

In the EU, including Poland, eco-schemes should be implemented by as many farmers as possible, regardless of the size of their farm and the natural conditions under which they farm. This is because there is a need to widely involve farmers in the process of implementing eco-schemes, as this can provide further valuable insights and increase the usefulness of further research.

In future studies, it will be important to determine the impact of the application of eco-scheme practices on the economic situation of farms and the state of their environmental sustainability, as measured by the balance of organic matter, the diversification of the cropping structure, and the quality and quantity of fertilization. This research will show the direction and strength of the impact of eco-schemes on farm income and biodiversity.