The area shares in the Bavarian Contractual Nature Conservation Program (VPN) have almost doubled within two years and every tenth meadow in the Neu-Ulm district is part of this program. “Fortunately, the number of companies participating in the VNP, as well as the area shares and thus the amount of funding, have increased significantly in the past two years,” says Michael Angerer, head of the “Nature Conservation and Landscape Planning” department in the Neu-Ulm District Office.
While there were 114 farms in 2020, 127 farms have already taken part in the VNP since this year. The share of land with management agreements according to the VNP almost doubled: from 329 hectares (2019) to 514 hectares (2020) to 651 hectares (2021). The total funding amount this year is 333,412 euros (2019: 181,544 euros; 2020: 278,546 euros).
The Bavarian Contracted Nature Conservation Program (VNP) is an agri-environmental program with targeted state support for agricultural businesses. In particular, the extensive use of meadows (no fertilization, later cutting time), the conversion of arable land into grassland and flowering meadows as well as the abandonment of the use of agricultural areas or fish ponds are financially supported.
