Seeds

A Hungarian results-based agri-environmental pilot scheme backed by a mobile app for farmers

DAISY will investigate how results-based agri-environmental schemes, digital monitoring tools and farmer–conservationist partnerships can drive behavioural, institutional and policy change in support of biodiversity-friendly farming.

Transformation

The process shows that transformative agri-environmental policy change is feasible even under difficult conditions. Lasting outcomes include stronger farmer-conservationist relationships, enhanced participatory capacity and a tested low-tech monitoring system; the Mobilgazda App could extend to farmer self-monitoring, and its results-based logic is already appearing in national water-management initiatives.

Equity

Four years of participatory workshops, field visits and an Austrian study trip turned historically tense farmer-conservationist relations into collaborative ones, drawing in the Őrség National Park Directorate, ESSRG social scientists, farmers and policymakers. Structural barriers such as ageing farmers and limited digital literacy still limit who can take part.

Biodiversity

The scheme ties farmer payments to measurable biodiversity outcomes on farmland rather than to prescribed actions, using a mobile app for low-tech monitoring of ecological results. No regional pilot has yet launched, due to CAP funding-cycle timing, perceived financial risk and limited ministry-level commitment.

Mobilgazda App
“I was sceptical, really sceptical (…) And then, toward the end of the project, we had a field day in the Őrség (…). And you get the hang of it.(…) So it is possible to check this kind of biodiversity target in a tangible, relatively objective way. That was a kind of revelation too, that this can actually work under fairly objective conditions.”

The seed

In the species-rich grasslands of the Őrség region in western Hungary, a novel experiment was launched: co-designing a results-based agri-environmental payment scheme that links farmer payments directly to biodiversity outcomes. Developed through Contracts2.0, this seed innovation combined social learning, participatory design, and a low-tech, farmer-friendly monitoring approach to address the steady decline of biodiversity-positive farming in a protected but fragile landscape. The seed lies in reversing a decade-long trend of farmer dropout from action-based schemes, by building a payment system rooted in motivation, local knowledge and shared ecological goals.

The drivers

The innovation was made possible by an alignment of motivated actors: the Őrség National Park Directorate seeking new tools to collaborate with farmers; social scientists from ESSRG facilitating participatory processes; local farmers open to engagement when their knowledge was genuinely valued; and national policymakers curious about results-based approaches at a moment when EU CAP reforms were pushing in that direction. Four years of EU research funding provided a stable platform for workshops, field visits, a study trip to Austria, and the creation of both a local Innovation Lab and a national Policy Lab. The participatory process — including vision workshops, joint monitoring trials, and cross-sectoral dialogue — built unprecedented trust between the national park and the farming community, turning historical tensions into a collaborative foundation.

The obstacles

Despite the process’s success, no regional pilot has been launched. Key barriers included the short remaining time in the CAP funding period; the novelty and perceived financial risk of results-based payments in Hungary’s legal framework; and a lack of sustained political commitment at the highest levels, compounded by staff turnover among key ministry staff. Structural challenges in the Őrség itself — ageing farmers, declining animal husbandry, limited digital skills, and a small and regionally specific context — also complicate scaling and transfer. The national park’s historically ambiguous role as both conservator and regulator created a difficult starting atmosphere, though the participatory process largely overcame this.

The transformation potential

The Őrség innovation process demonstrates that transformative change in agri-environmental policy is possible even under adverse conditions — but it is rarely linear. The process generated lasting outcomes: deepened trust between farmers and conservationists, improved participatory and digital skills, new cross-institutional alliances, and a well-tested, low-tech monitoring system ready to be reactivated when policy windows open.

At the policy level, the results-based approach could be extended beyond the Őrség to other regions and other domains — a recent national call on water management has already incorporated elements of results-based logic. At the technical level, there is potential to combine the currently low-tech field monitoring with digital tools: the Hungarian State Treasury’s Mobilgazda App — a mobile application already used by farmers for administrative tasks — could be extended to enable farmer self-monitoring of biodiversity impacts, linking everyday farm management directly to conservation outcomes. At the personal level, the mentoring-style relationship between farmers and conservationists points toward a deeper, values-based shift in how farmers relate to the land they manage.

Desired future

The desired future is a substantially more adaptive agri-environmental payment system in which results-based approaches have moved from isolated experimentation into the mainstream of agricultural policy. Participants envisioned approximately half of CAP agri-environmental payments being distributed according to achieved results, supported by a decentralised network of regional schemes. Results-based payments would complement rather than entirely replace action-based support: basic payments would continue to reduce farmers’ risks, while additional rewards would recognise measurable biodiversity outcomes.

Technology, institutional reform and cultural change reinforce one another in this future. Digital tools, AI and remote sensing are confidently combined with farmers’ local knowledge, while a generational shift brings environmentally sensitive farmers and regenerative practices increasingly to the foreground. Payments themselves reflect a different logic: rather than compensating primarily for costs or lost income, they increasingly recognise the positive public and ecological value generated by farmers.

The mature system is therefore more transparent, flexible and trust-based, enabling farmers to adapt management to changing local and climatic conditions. Biodiversity improvements are measurable at genetic, species, habitat and ecosystem levels, while reduced bureaucracy and greater flexibility can particularly benefit smaller family farms. Participants considered such a transition ambitious but potentially achievable by the mid-2030s, around the end of the next CAP planning cycle.

Potential transformative intervention mixes

The pathway towards this future combines institutional decentralisation, participatory policy design, learning, new monitoring technologies and changes in the relationship between farmers and public authorities. Excessive centralisation, fragmented regulation and recurrent redesign of payment systems need to give way to greater continuity, transparency and trust. At the same time, farmers need opportunities to move from seeing agri-environmental payments as an externally imposed obligation towards understanding them as tools through which they can actively shape environmental outcomes.

Peer learning is a particularly important part of this mix. Farm schools, field visits, mentoring and communities of practice can connect farmers with local pioneers already experimenting with regenerative agriculture, conservation and advanced monitoring. Participatory design of payment schemes can incorporate multiple forms of knowledge and increase acceptance, while landscape-level approaches can connect agriculture with water, forestry and conservation objectives.

These social interventions need to be coupled with accessible monitoring systems. Simple indicators and transparent scoring cards can help farmers understand and improve outcomes, while farmer–advisor self-monitoring can rebuild trust and strengthen learning. Mobile applications, remote sensing and, where appropriate, drone technologies can complement field observations and reduce monitoring costs. Adaptive planning allows schemes to respond to regional ecological conditions and a changing climate, while payment architectures such as minimum thresholds and bonuses can encourage progressively better biodiversity outcomes.

Training for farmers, advisors and public officials completes the mix. The transformative potential lies not in replacing people with technology, but in creating a system where technological monitoring, farmer knowledge, institutional learning, transparent incentives and long-term trust work together.

ESSRG

Kármen Czett

Eszter Kelemen

Gergő Berta

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