Does the CAP protect hedges? Multiple interpretations of the GAEC7

Abstract

In accordance with the "good agro-environmental condition" n° 7 (GAEC7), any beneficiary of aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has since 2015 the obligation to support the hedges present on his farm. Does this rule, unprecedented in its ambition, effectively protect them? After presenting the content of the GAEC7, the article explores the ways in which it is interpreted in the field by three main groups of actors: farmers, State services and agroforestry advisors. To do so, the provisional results of a sociological survey are called upon. They document the plurality of interpretations between and within stakeholder groups. Farmers interpret the GAEC7 negatively, which may have favoured the uprooting of hedges following the announcement of their protection. Decentralised state services apply it very differently depending on the territory, which suggests that the implementation of this national rule depends on departmental factors. The agroforestry advisors see it as a historic step forward, while regretting its punitive dimension and the negative effects of the official definition of a hedge. To conclude, this interpretative plurality is related to the global context of the CAP 2015-2020, which has been marked by major difficulties.