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4.1       Introduction

Environmental pressures to water from agriculture occur as a consequence of the environmental resource demands of the agricultural productions.  This demand is regulated through a large number of no regret measures. Such  measures are implemented and being tested to tackle agricultural pressures on the water environment, for instance from nutrient (van Grinsven et al., 2012; Schoumans et al., 2014; Ibisch et al., 2016), pesticides (e.g., Carter, 2000; Reichenberger et al., 2007; Lamichhane et al., 2015), water use (e.g. OECD, 2010; Molden, 2007; Chartzoulakis and Bertaki, 2015), hydromorphological impacts (e.g. Flávio et al., 2017; Vartia et al., 2018), including in the context of climate change and the need to adapt and build resilience (e.g. OECD, 2014; EEA, 2019a; Lankoski et al., 2018; Smith et al., 2019). The breadth and variety of management measures, strategies and policies are wide and increases with ongoing research and innovations.

The chapter presents an overview of measures that can be taken at farm or landscape level, their importance for achieving a more balanced and resource efficient agricultural production, while maintaining the integrity of the natural catchment hydrology. Environmental improvements will, however, only be achieved if resource gains are turned into environmental benefits, rather than further increasing the production. Achieving environmental benefits also requires that those measures are implemented by farmers in their agricultural practices. A number of factors influence this uptake and are important to take into account when designing responses. The chapter also provides an overview of the present and upcoming changes to the European policy framework. Environmental policies are first presented, followed by agricultural and rural development policies.

Overall, the European policy framework to tackle diffuse pollution, abstraction and hydromorphological pressures from agriculture is well-developed. However, as will be seen, measures currently taken are not enough to tackle agricultural pressures contributing to the failure to achieve good ecological status.  Reasons for this failure includes lack of knowledge, time-lag involved in restoring environmental deterioration, and the need to improve measure uptake (EEA, 2018c; EC, 2019). Additional regulatory action, financial resources and stakeholder mobilisation are also needed to support a more fundamental transition towards sustainability in the agricultural sector. To achieve this, greater integration of water targets in sectoral policies, in particular agriculture, is necessary (EC, 2019a).

The European Green Deal provides a unique opportunity to improve the implementation of existing environmental legislation and raise ambitions on the future environmental performance of agriculture. With their targets on organic farming, high biodiversity landscape features, and reduction in fertiliser and pesticide use, the recently published Farm-to-Fork and Biodiversity Strategies provide the necessary impetus to intensify the transition of the agricultural sector towards sustainability. Reaching these targets will require significant financial and technical resources, and be further translated into existing and new implementing instruments, in particular the future CAP Strategic Plans. The current policy setting is discussed in this chapter, whereas needs for structural reforms of the agricultural value chains to support the uptake of more efficient and agro-ecological principles at the farm level are discussed in chapter 5.