What does the EU nature restoration regulation mean for agriculture?

This policy brief explains why the EU Nature Restoration Regulation has an important role to play in the necessary reform of agriculture, not just to stopbiodiversity loss, but also to achieve climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation and soil degradation neutrality and the improvement of food security. Member States must take the restoration measures necessary to enhance the biodiversity of agricultural ecosystems, with a focus on two out of the following three indicators: the grassland butterfly index, the stock of organic carbon in cropland mineral soils, the percentage of agricultural land with high diversity landscape elements. Separate goals apply to farmland birds and drained peatlands. These measures are additional to those required for habitat types and habitats of species occurring in agricultural ecosystems. Achieving these goals requires a significant package of measures at the intersection of nature, climate change, soil, and agricultural policies aiming at transforming intensive agriculture to become more extensive, more organic, and, in general, more sustainable.