Participation in eco-programmes has no clear-cut influence on full-cost coverage

in ecological and landscape conservation programmes and the recompense of all production factors used on the farms is investigated using full-cost calculations. Accountancy data and an allocation of the overhead costs using keys based on the composition of a farm’s gross output constitute the underlying data of the study. The analytical value-added of the full-cost calculation undertaken proves to be limited in comparison to conventional profitability analyses. Nevertheless, it can be shown that the level of participation in the ‘low-intensity meadows’ and ‘grassland- based milk and meat production’ programmes has no clear-cut influence on the degree of full-cost coverage; rather, it is other factors such as the size or altitude of a farm that are crucial. Participation in these programmes leads neither to the creation of a distinct and high economic rent (compensation without a quid pro quo), nor to its opposite, i. e. a systematic economic disadvantage. Consequently, and from the perspective of sustainable policy design, no fundamental problems have been identified by the analyses conducted.