Environmental themes on ecolabels G.R. de Snoo * , G.W.J. van de Ven Centre of Environmental Science, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9518, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands Abstract A desk study on current market-oriented approaches promoting more sustainable agriculture compared organic farming (EKO), agro-ecolabelling (AMK), `environmentally-aware cultivation' (MBT), Albert Heijn's controlled cultivation, Sainsbury's integrated crop management and the TNO label developed for the retailer A&P. The contribution of these to individual Dutch environmental policy themes was analysed. The results of an inventory for arable farming are presented, with special reference to the cultivation of ware potatoes. They show that all the labels include the themes of climate change, acidi®cation, eutrophication and ecotoxicity. The themes of hydrological changes and habitat loss and fragmentation are scarcely taken into account in the Dutch labels. This implies that these labels do not guarantee that sustainable agriculture will be developed. However, the British retailer Sainsbury's does consider all the six topics explicitly. Although both the environment and biodiversity will bene®t from a reduction of pollutant emissions, the labels do not assess the actual effect of the criteria, as there is no analytical framework for transforming the present ecolabels into manageable and effective instruments to achieve sustainable agriculture. Several criteria are proposed for use in market-oriented tools aiming to enhance biodiversity. # 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Biodiversity; Agriculture; Ecolabelling; Environmental management; Potato 1. Introduction Agricultural land use in The Netherlands is very intensive, resulting in high yields of milk, meat and crops per unit land area, but requiring high external inputs of concentrated animal feeds, arti®cial fertili- sers and pesticides. As a consequence, environmental quality and biodiversity in agricultural areas are in decline on many fronts. The Dutch government has therefore developed policy to diminish the negative side-effects of these intensive production methods. This policy mainly comprises restrictive measures, but these (e.g. the manure accounting system) are often dif®cult to check and are evaded by farmers. Individuals and groups (such as landowners, farmers, food processors, retailers and other actors in the agro- production chain) have also taken on some responsi- bility, by adopting several market-oriented initiatives that steer agriculture towards more sustainable pro- duction methods. Many of these initiatives have been formalised in a system of labels and certi®cates. Each label has its own criteria relating to production meth- ods; farmers who meet these criteria are awarded a certi®cate. The farmer's aim is to pro®t from the certi®cate by a higher product price, guaranteed sales or image-building. Landscape and Urban Planning 46 (1999) 179±184 * Corresponding author.Tel.: 31-71-527-74-56; fax: 31-71- 527-56-11. E-mail address: Snoo@cml.LeidenUniv.nl (G.R. de Snoo) 0169-2046/99/$20.00 # 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0169-2046(99)00040-7