New Administrative Geospatial Data for Agricultural Policy Evaluation: An Application to EU Crop Diversity Obligations

This study performs an evaluation of the EU crop diversification obligation by leveraging administrative, geo-spatial data sourced from agricultural subsidy registers in Spain. The key features of GeoSpatial Aid Application (GSA) data include national coverage, accurate identification of land use and, crucially, the ability to group land parcels managed by the same farm, thus enabling causal analyses at the holding level. We provide novel empirical evidence of bunching at diversification policy thresholds. We calibrate a model of farmers’ decision-making to GSA data and provide insights on the characterization of bunchers and compliers, finding stronger reactions among smaller-sized holdings. We concisely discuss implications for future research endeavors in the agricultural policy domain.