One of principal changes within the new CAP has been the inclusion of Eco-schemes – voluntary programmes linked to the first pillar which will be available to farmers with the hope to incentivize more ecological and environmentally-friendly farming practices. While agroecology holds an eminent space within this list by being listed as one of the primary recommendations, it does so within a role of just another practice to achieve a more sustainable farming system. As stated by many before, such as Hill (1985), Gliessman (2016) and Agroecology Europe (2021), agroecology is not just the substitution of one practice for another, it is a restructuring of the entire agricultural and food system. It is not just a tool to increase efficiency, it is a paradigm shift that uses food, health and the environment as a starting point to create a system that is inherently resilient. Further, it is important to remember that agroecology consists of three major elements: a set of practices, a science and a social movement (Wezel et al., 2009, Agroecology Europe, 2020).

As Agroecology Europe (2021) has proposed earlier this year, it is important to separate practices (i.e. buffer strips, winter cover crops) and production systems (i.e. agroecology, agroforestry, organic farming) for a more cohesive integration of Eco-schemes. Production systems such as conservation agriculture, agroforestry, and extensive silvo-pastoral systems should be subsidized by basic premiums, as organic farming is. Practices that can be implemented on their own, and are not production systems themselves, should be reclassified into three separate measures, those that: increase input efficiency, substitute inputs and redesign the production system. Such categories can be further classified according to the function they fulfil within agroecosystems: soil fertility, weed management, pest and disease control, pasture management, animal welfare, biodiversity and pollinator conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. A further description of what such a system would look like can be seen in Table 1, where each measure is represented by a different colour: efficiency (E) in orange, substitution (S) in blue, and redesign (R) in green