The Dual Impact of Organic Farming Support in Italy - Discussion paper

Abstract This paper investigates the abatement of farm-level greenhouse gas emissions as a response to the adoption of organic farming under the respective policy support. A theoretical framework of the farmers’ decision-making accounts for response heterogeneity and makes the possible discrepancy between the private and societal objectives explicit. Causal machine learning estimation to admit treatment-effect heterogeneity across farm typologies is used. The study concerns the EU Common Agricultural Policy support to organic farming from 2015 to 2022 using a balanced panel of Italian Farm Accountancy Data Network units. The results confirm potential inconsistencies between private and societal objectives and bring into question the effectiveness of the policy support in terms of emission abatement. Citation VARACCA, A., Coderoni, S., & Esposti, R. (2026). The Dual Impact of Organic Farming Support in Italy - Discussion paper (Version v01). BrightSpace Horizon Europe project GA Nr. 101060075. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19737938----------------- Funding acknowledgement Funded by the European Union. Grant Agreement No. 101060075. Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Legal notice This document was produced under the terms and conditions of Grant Agreement No. 101060075 for the European Commission. It does not necessary reflect the view of the European Union and in no way anticipates the Commission’s future policy in this area. The European Commission is not liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse of this publication. © BrightSpace, 2026 The reuse of this document is authorised under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CCBY 4.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This means that reuse is allowed provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated. For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the BrightSpace consortium, permission may need to be sought directly from the respective right holders. Project information BrightSpace Horizon Europe project Grant Agreement No. 101060075 https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101060075 CALL: Innovative governance, environmental observations and digital solutions in support of the Green Deal WORK PROGRAMME Topic ID: HORIZON-CL6-2021-GOVERNANCE-01-12 EU agriculture within a safe and just operating space and planetary boundaries BrightSpace Project coordination: Wageningen Economic Research, The Hague, NL Contact: brightspace.wser@wur.nl | Website: www.brightspace-project.eu Project duration: 1 November 2022 – 31 October 2027.