Common Agricultural Policy Indicators - Soil Quality

Indicators contributing to the assessment of the performance of the Common Agricultural Policy. Soil is essential for life and represents the key element to grow crops that feed people and animals. Agricultural practices influence soil viability, while agriculture is heavily dependent on soil quality. The dashboard includes a graph on quantity of soil organic matter, which is a key component to keep soil fertility and to accumulate carbon. It also include a map on the risk of soil erosion, which can be a major source of degradation. Crop diversity is important to keep the soil viable: the related graphs shows agricultural statistics on the number of crops across MS. The other graphs are related to CAP interventions direct to soil quality: the share of agricultural land under rural development contracts includes actions to soil management and to prevent soil erosion. The greening obligation on crop diversification (expressed both in number of beneficiaries and areas) aim to keep an overall minimum diversity on arable land.