Under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) deal agreed last week, some changes were made to the land conditions farmers must meet in order to receive payments.
These are called the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs). These 13 conditions have been a feature of CAP for several years.
However, the new deal makes some important changes.
On GAEC 2, on the protection of wetlands and peatlands, the CAP negotiators from the European Parliament and the council of agriculture ministers agreed to include a footnote that member states can include in their CAP Strategic Plans a provision that this GAEC will only be applicable from years 2024 or 2025.
This is to allow countries time to establish a management system to ensure the implementation of this GAEC.
Where member states take this option, they will have to demonstrate that the delay is necessary for the establishment of the management system.
When establishing the standard for GAEC 2, member states are required to ensure that, on the land concerned, an agricultural activity suitable for qualifying the land as agricultural area may be maintained.
GAEC 4 deals with the establishment of buffer strips along water courses. Here, the negotiators agreed that, as a general rule, these buffer strips will respect a minimum width of 3m without the use of pesticides and fertilisers.
In areas with significant dewatering and irrigation ditches, countries may adjust this minimum width in accordance with specific local circumstances.
CAP changes in GAEC 7 and 8
GAEC 7 pertains to minimum soil cover. On this, it was agreed that in some cases, member states may adapt standards to take account of the short vegetation period resulting from the length and severity of the winter.
GAEC 8 is about crop rotation in arable land. Both sides of the negotiations agreed that rotation will consist of a change in crop at least once a year at land parcel level (except in the case of multiannual crops, grasses and other herbaceous forage).
It was also agreed that member states may authorise other practices of crop rotation or crop diversification which aim at improving and preserving the “soil potential”.
There are a number of provisions to allow some holdings to be exempted from this obligation.
The first exemption is where more than 75% of arable land is used for the production of grasses, herbaceous forage or the cultivation of leguminous crops (or a combination of the above).
Lands can also exempted from GAEC 8 if 75% of eligible agricultural area is permanent grassland; or is used for the cultivation of grasses, other herbaceous forage or crops underwater for a significant part of the year or crop cycle (or a combination of those uses).
The final exemption under GAEC 8 is for arable land of less than 10ha.
Member states may also introduce a maximum limit of area covered with a single crop to prevent large monocultures.
Non-productive areas or features
The final big change comes in GAEC 9, which deals with the minimum share of agricultural land devoted to non-productive areas or features.
Going forward, a minimum share of 4% of arable land at farm level must be devoted to non-productive areas and features.
However, where a farmer commits to devote at least 7% of their arable land to non-productive areas or features, the minimum limit for compliance with this GAEC will be reduced to 3%.
There would be a minimum share of 7% of arable land if it includes catch crops or nitrogen-fixing crops cultivated without the use of plant protection products, of which 3% will be non-productive.
The same exemptions in GAEC 8 are also applicable to the obligations under GAEC 9.
Furthermore, GAEC 9 will see a ban on cutting hedges and trees during the bird breeding and rearing season, while landscape features would be retained.