Now that the EU has agreed on a new agricultural policy, it has for the first time tightened climate requirements when it comes to providing support to farmers.

20 percent is earmarked for so-called "echo schemes", environmental programs for agriculture and animal husbandry that are conducted with climate-smarter methods.

The green part of the budget goes to projects such as forestry, an efficient form of cultivation where several types of crops work together on the same surface and "carbon farming", new old farming methods that bind as much organic material as possible in the soil.

The powerful agricultural nations Poland and Italy were skeptical to the last, so Minister of Agriculture Jennie Nilsson (S) was clearly relieved and called the night's settlement "a big step".

But the question is whether it is enough to earmark 20 percent of the EU's gigantic agricultural budget for agriculture to deliver its contribution to the EU's very ambitious climate policy. 

Initiate an offensive

Under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission has launched an offensive in which it now wants to push for the EU to reduce its emissions by 55 percent by 2030. It is a very challenging timetable.

This means that all sectors must contribute, from the manufacturing industry, to the transport sector and agriculture, which account for close to ten percent of the EU's total CO2 emissions.  

Agriculture faces a double challenge.

It contributes to climate change.

The path of food, from soil to table, is lined with greenhouse gases, including the potent nitrous oxide.

Everything that happens, fertilization, storage, packaging and transport contribute to the climate crisis.

But agriculture is also affected by climate change.

At the same time as food is to be produced with the smallest possible climate footprint, you also need to adapt your methods to an increasingly extreme and unpredictable climate.

Massive criticism from environmental groups

The criticism from the EEB, an umbrella organization for all of Europe's environmental organizations, has been massive.

"A dark day for the environment, for long-term, wise farming methods and frankly, also for the future of our species - the transition to organic farming that was promised within the framework of the EU green deal, has been paused," said EEB agricultural expert Berencie Dupeaux. 

It is not unusual for the environmental movement and the Minister of Agriculture to be light years apart.

Politics is the art of the possible, and getting all EU countries to agree that 20 percent of agricultural support should go to climate-smart agriculture is a step in the right direction.

But several agriculture ministers acknowledged after the settlement in Luxembourg that the result is full of loopholes.

If the green grants have not been used until 2024, they will go to conventional agriculture.

And you can also apply for grants to ditch wetlands, contrary to what research recommends for binding as much carbon as possible in the soil.  

In a global perspective, EU farmers are ahead, since 2009 they have reduced their carbon dioxide emissions and reduced their livestock stocks, while agriculture in many developing countries is going the other way.

But the demands for quick results in all industries are growing now that the EU has taken the lead in global climate work.