With the motivation to reduce pressures on natural resources, and biodiversity, in particular, the 2013 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform introduced ‘Greening rules’, which farmers have to meet to receive a greening payment as part of their total CAP payment. Concerns have been raised by practitioners and scientists since, questioning the effectiveness and fairness of Greening. Yet empirical evidence for the effects of Greening is still insufficient. This paper examines how Greening and an alternative biodiversity oriented scenario affect the land use pattern and income of different farm types in three northern German regions (Diepholz, Uelzen, Oder-Spree). A bio-economic modelling framework is used to implement the scenario. The results show that Greening has only moderate impact on land use patterns and at the same time causes only low compliance costs. Our alternative scenario could deliver a higher biodiversity impact in terms of area with goal oriented measures but also leads to higher on-farm costs. Nevertheless, compliance costs are also in this scenario far below the current payment Level.