GAEC standards fall within the scope of the system of conditionality, which makes the receipt of direct payments and other payments under the interventions specified in the PS for the CAP 2023-2027 conditional. They raise many doubts in the agricultural community. The government has just decided to introduce several significant changes to the regulations to slightly reduce the “burdensomeness” of their implementation.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has prepared a draft regulation amending the regulation on standards and detailed conditions of their application, i.e. on GAECs.
Proposed regulation:
- clarifies the definition of fertilizers covered by the GAEC 4 standard;
- clarifies the issues of control of the GAEC 7 and GAEC 8 standards;
- implements into national law Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/587 enabling in 2024 a derogation from the application of the GAEC 8 standard regarding the requirement to allocate a minimum share of arable land to non-productive areas or facilities.
Changes in GAEC 4 – post-fermentation products are also fertilizer
The GAEC 4 standard refers to good agricultural and conservation conditions
environment, regarding the establishment of buffer zones along watercourses.
This standard, in its current version, prohibits the use of fertilizers on agricultural land located within 3 m of surface water, including fertilizers such as mineral fertilizers, natural fertilizers, organic fertilizers and organo-mineral fertilizers.
But as we know, the Act on Fertilizers and Fertilization, after the change introduced last summer, also regulated post-fermentation products, defining them separately from fertilizers. Therefore, the change in the wording of the GAEC 4 standard (proposed by the government) is related to the above-described amendment to the Act on Fertilizers and Fertilization, and consists in supplementing the definition with any other substance containing a nitrogen compound or nitrogen compounds used agriculturally to increase the growth of vegetation, as well as excrement animals, remains from fishing farms and sewage sludge. This definition includes, among others: post-fermentation products.
– The change in the wording of the GAEC 4 standard introduced by this Regulation aims to clarify that the GAEC 4 standard applies to all fertilizers, including nitrogen fertilizers covered by SMR 2, including, among others: post-fermentation products and sewage sludge – noted in the justification.
Changes in GAEC 7 – treatment register
GAEC 7 covers crop rotation on arable land. Crop rotation involves:
- on the area of at least 40% of arable land – a crop other than the main crop grown in the previous year, and
- on all arable land – the same crop as the main crop for no longer than 3 years.
According to the existing regulations, the conditions for crop rotation are considered to be met if, in a given area, the main crop is undersown or, after the main crop is harvested, a winter catch crop or a stubble catch crop is introduced.
The conditions that must be met by an undersown crop or an intercrop include the period of their maintenance, which may depend: in the case of undersown crops – on the harvest date of the crop in the main crop, and in the case of a stubble intercrop – on the date of its sowing.
– Statements so far in the above scope, indicating the day of harvesting the main crop or the date of sowing the stubble catch crop, submitted by the farmer to ARiMR, are replaced by a register of agrotechnical treatments kept on the farm. This change constitutes administrative simplification for farmers and the Agency – we read in the justification.
This introduced the obligation to drive a register of agrotechnical treatments relating to the very fact of introducing and maintaining undersowing or winter catch crops or stubble catch crops. Entries in the register in the above scope are for control purposes.
As we read further, provided that such a register is maintained, for the purposes of verifying the rotation of crops in a given year, undersown and catch crops sown in the previous year – in relation to the condition indicated in point 1 above, and sown in the three previous years – in relation to the condition indicated in point 2.
It was also clarified that for the purposes of verifying the condition that the same main crop has not been grown on all arable land for more than 3 years, the main crop is grown no earlier than 2023.
Changes in GAEC 8 – simplifications and annual fallow derogation
GAEC 8 is a requirement to allocate a minimum share of arable land to non-productive areas or facilities.
Similarly to the case of undersown crops and stubble catch crops implementing the GAEC 7 standard, the previous declarations indicating the harvest day of the crop in the main crop (in the case of introducing undersowing into this crop) or the date of sowing stubble catch crops, submitted by the farmer to the Agency, are replaced by the register of agrotechnical treatments , stored on the farm. This represents administrative simplification for farmers and the Agency.
The amendment to the regulation in question also introduces into national law the provisions proposed in February this year. derogation from the application of the GAEC 8 standard by the EC regarding the requirement to allocate a minimum share of arable land area to non-productive areas or facilities.
By way of derogation, at least 4% of arable land may be used for:
- non-productive areas or features, including fallow land, or
- legume crops or
- catch crops.
Catch crops and legume crops are to be grown without the use of plant protection products. In the case of catch crops, a weighting factor of 1 should be used (instead of the factor which is generally 0.3).
The derogation is temporary and applies until 2024.
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