Agricultural Policy and the Environment Protection through the Eyes of New Farmers: Evidence from a Country of Southeast Europe

European Unions’ current Common Agricultural Policy has been moved from subsidising agricultural products to direct payments to farmers. These payments depend, among others, on whether farmers fulfill their obligations in managing their production in a sustainable manner, protecting the environment, ensuring public health, plant health, animal health and welfare. Thus, farmers have to accept this role; to protect the environment in order to acquire subsidies. Even more, European Unions’ surveys reveal that Europeans generally believe that it is a main responsibility of farmers to protect the environment. On the other hand there is a decline in farmers, forcing European Union to establish different policy measures and motives for new entrants in agriculture. Such measures support new farmers’ initial establishment and the structural adjustment of their holding afterwards. This paper attempts to identify Greek new (young) farmers’ perceptions about their role as environmental protectors. For this reason a questionnaire was developed and distributed among young farmers participating in the measure 112 ‘Setting up of young farmers’ (Common Agricultural Policy, Pillar II). The survey took place in Central Macedonia in Greece during an educational course series designed for new farmers. In total 254 new farmers answered questions concerning both environmental and cultivation practices.