This publication is the result of a close collaboration between three services of the European Commission - EUROSTAT, the Agriculture DG and the Environment DG. It deals with the functional link between agriculture and the environment and seeks to highlight the available statistical information, in the main held by EUROSTAT, but also the Joint Research Centre and the Commission services. The ambition of the publication is to make a full and rigorous contribution to the debate and, in this way, open up new avenues for future work.

(July 1999)

Preface

The challenge of integrating environmental requirements into the common agricultural policy

Challenges for Agriculture: Facts and Figures

Glossary

A dynamic European agricultural and agri-foodstuffs sector

Changes in agricultural employment

Crop trends and environmental impacts

Specialised holdings and more intensive practices

Concentration of livestock production

Non-food and energy crops, a long tradition and potential for future

Organic farming

Impact of agri-environment measures

Natura 2000 and agriculture

Forestry measures under the common agricultural policy

Water and agriculture: contribution to an analysis of a critical but difficult relationship

Nitrogen in agriculture

Pesticides in the European Union

Agriculture and climate change

Agriculture and acidification

From soil to landscape: a fundamental part of the European Union's heritage

Soil at the Interface between Agriculture and Environment

Agricultural landscapes: over half of Europe's territory maintained by farmers

Rural realities in the European Union

Thanks