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The following paper assesses the impact of different policy options on the land use and associatedbiodiversity values of jointly organized low intensity grazing systems (‘Allmende’) inSouthern Bavaria. We use an integrated economic and ecological modelling approach tocompare the results of the scenarios with a reference situation that reflects the Common AgriculturalPolicy prior to the Fischler Reform. The economic sub model is based on single farmswhich alter their land use in response to economic stimuli. Within the economic part, keyfactors like the farm’s endowment with machinery, quota and buildings but also the farmer’sattitude are regarded. Within the rule based ecological sub model we analyze three main parameters:(a) protected habitats according to the EC Habitats Directive, (b) biodiversity forselected taxonomic groups (plants, lichens, ground beetles) and (c) habitat quality of selectedtarget species (plants, butterflies). An overall evaluation of the scenarios leads to the conclusionthat the impact of the Fischler reform will be fairly limited in the study area, since at theobserved level of intensity the lower product prices will be compensated by higher directpayments. If all payments were strictly targeted to agri-environmental measures and set to alevel which guarantees a low input management of the grass land, the overall public expensescould be reduced by approx. 100 to 200 € ha-1. In addition this setting will provide additionalhabitats for the target species. However, the number of agricultural employment opportunitiesand the agricultural value added decline severely. Regarding all indicators but the extent ofprotected habitats and the public costs, a scenario of complete market liberalization performsthe worst.
