BEATLES

BEATLES website

Policy recommendations

The BEATLES Policy Recommendations translate scientific evidence, behavioural research, and practical experience into actionable policy guidance for Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in Europe. Developed through a co-creation process combining policy analysis, scientific literature, stakeholder engagement, advisory perspectives via consultations and interviews, and real territorial evidence from five European Use Cases, the recommendations aim to support policymakers in addressing the systemic challenges of the agricultural transition.

Twelve EU Policy recommendations

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Five Use Case
policy insights

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Building on this evidence base, BEATLES developed:

  • 12 EU Policy Recommendations, focused on supporting the future CAP and National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs) through more coherent, fair, resilient, and outcome-oriented CSA policies;
  • and 5 Use Case Policy Insights, translating the findings from each participating country into territorially grounded recommendations reflecting local realities and sector-specific challenges. The process brought together insights from Lithuania (wheat systems), Germany (organic dairy farming), Spain (organic apple production), Denmark (pig sector), and The Netherlands (potatoes and onions), based on the analysis of their CAP Strategic Plans (2023-2027) and other national policies on energy and protein crops.

Together, these outputs connect European strategic priorities with real-world implementation needs, helping policymakers move from policy ambition to operational transition pathways.

This section is further complemented by four thematic Policy Briefs and contributions to EU consultations, which connect BEATLES findings to broader European debates on agriculture, climate action, food systems, fairness, rural development, and the future CAP framework.

Recommendation

EU Policy recommendations

BLOCK I

Policy Coherence & Strategic Framework

1

Ensure horizontal and territorial policy coherence for CSA adoption in NRPPs

2

Establish adaptive and learning-based NRPPs with structured CSA transition pathways

BLOCK II

Fairness, Inclusion & Behavioural adoption

3

Integrate fairness dimensions into CSA intervention design

4

Strengthen differentiated support for vulnerable farmers and territories

5

Integrate behavioural approaches for CSA adoption

BLOCK III

Green Architecture & Financial Alignment

6

Shift from green architecture to CSA transition pathways within NRPPs

7

Ensure sufficient and well-sequenced financial support for CSA transitions

BLOCK IV

Simplification

8

Use CAP simplification to enhance CSA uptake and administrative feasibility

BLOCK V

Advisory & Knowledge Systems

9

Strengthen AKIS and advisory systems to support behavioural CSA adoption

BLOCK VI

Long-Term Vision Alignment

10

Implement territorially disaggregated, outcome-based CSA monitoring systems (NUTS-3)

11

Integrate digitalisation as enabling infrastructure for CSA

BLOCK VII

Results-Based & Digitalisation

12

Align NRPPs with long-term CSA transition pathways and EU strategic goals (2040)

Recommendation

Use Case policy insights

Wheat (cereal)

Wheat (cereals)

Policy insights

Lithuania

Wheat (cereal)

Pig sector

Policy insights

Denmark

Wheat (cereal)

Fruit

Policy insights

Spain

Wheat (cereal)

Dairy

Policy insights

Germany

Wheat (cereal)

Onion & Potato

Policy insights

The netherlands