OrganicClimateNET has joined forces with the Climate Farm Demo project to publish a joint policy brief exploring how rewarding mechanisms can better support systemic and climate-resilient farming approaches, with a particular focus on organic farming. The publication highlights the need for policy frameworks that recognise the full environmental and societal value delivered by holistic farming systems.

Rewarding mechanisms are essential tools for encouraging farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices or achieve specific environmental outcomes. They can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance carbon sequestration and strengthen climate change adaptation across European agriculture.

As part of this collaboration, Climate Farm Demo developed a Categorisation Framework of Rewarding Mechanisms, providing an overview of the different monetary, supportive and regulatory incentives currently available across the EU and its Member States. The framework also identifies those most relevant for the organic sector. Building on this work, OrganicClimateNET analysed the barriers preventing organic farmers from fully benefiting from existing schemes.

One of the main conclusions is that current rewarding mechanisms often fail to recognise organic farming as an integrated system. Instead, many schemes focus on individual practices or single outcomes—such as carbon storage—without acknowledging the broader environmental, social and economic benefits delivered by holistic organic farming systems. This limits the ability of farmers to access incentives that reflect the full value of their contribution to climate resilience and sustainability.

Key policy recommendations

To better incentivise systemic and climate-resilient farming approaches, the policy brief puts forward three main recommendations:

• Strengthen the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) by introducing income-positive payments that go beyond covering the costs of organic conversion and maintenance, recognising the wider public goods delivered by systemic farming approaches.
• Ensure the Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation supports holistic systems, including organic farming, by rewarding long-term soil stewardship, reduced dependence on synthetic inputs and broader sustainability benefits.
• Reinforce advisory services and knowledge-sharing networks, recognising their central role in supporting farmers and accelerating the transition towards more resilient and sustainable agricultural systems.

This joint publication underlines the importance of designing future agricultural policies that reward whole-farm sustainability rather than isolated practices, helping farmers adopt approaches that deliver lasting environmental, climate and societal benefits. By promoting more effective incentive schemes, OrganicClimateNET and Climate Farm Demo aim to support a fairer and more resilient transition towards sustainable agriculture across Europe.