On the other hand, rural development measures are focused much more (to the extent of 70%) on modernising farms and maintaining agricultural activity than on protecting the environment (Table 2.6). The premium for maintaining the countryside and landscapes is intended above all to prevent the conversion of permanent prairies and pastures into cultivated lands, and hence to preserve farming activity (with additional compensatory payments for agriculturally less favoured areas). It involves little in the way of ecological targets or measures for achieving them.