One year after the inauguration of the new system of direct payments, the new campaign introduced some changes to the regulations. Some changes are cosmetic, others are more serious; there are some difficulties, but also a few ways to make farmers’ lives easier.
- The GAEC 8 standard will be able to meet catch crops sown under the “Carbon Agriculture” ecoscheme and crops submitted for payments to legumes for seeds. However, remember to prohibit the use of pesticides in these areas.
- In the case of the “diversified crop structure” practice and rapeseed cultivation, a requirement was introduced for shredding and mixing with the soil/plowing in straw after harvest.
- Greater flexibility: the register of agrotechnical treatments can be kept in paper or electronic form or on the ARiMR form.
As announced by Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski last Friday, March 15, the European Commission is working on a project of legislative changes to the Common Agricultural Policy. These changes would also cover conditionality requirements, i.e. GAEC standards and the shape of eco-schemes. Their future seems uncertain, but the recruitment of applications for the direct subsidies campaign has already started – farmers must therefore know the regulations that apply to them. Which of the most important changes are already certain? The doubts were dispelled during an information training organized by the Agricultural Advisory Center in Brwinów.
GAEC 7: document crop interruption and retain
Under the GAEC 7 standard, one of the requirements states that the same main crop cannot be grown for longer than 3 years. With the launch of the new subsidy system last year, farmers were afraid that compliance with this requirement would be assessed “retroactively”, e.g. from 2020. Currently, the provision has been clarified that in order to determine whether this condition is met, the crop in the main crop from the year not earlier than 2023 will be taken into account.
Under the regulations, an undersowing or catch crop is considered an interlude in the cultivation of the same species. This involved the requirement to submit a declaration on the harvest date of the main crop or the sowing date of the catch crop. The declaration has been replaced by a register of agrotechnical treatments or analogous paper or electronic documentation – similar to the registers applicable in eco-schemes – in which the cultivation of undersown crops or catch crops should be properly documented.
Importantly, to confirm that from 2023 the main crop was interrupted with undersowing or intercropping, the register will have to be kept for the time necessary to determine compliance with the conditions of the GAEC 7 standard. Therefore, assuming 2023 as the base year and a maximum three-year period of the same crop, documentation must be kept for at least four years.
GAEC 8: legumes and catch crops
Following the announcement in Brussels of the derogation from the GAEC 8 standard and the resulting possibility of replacing non-productive elements and areas with areas under the cultivation of large- and small-seeded legumes or catch crops, some questions and uncertainties arose.
An important question became: will it be possible to implement the GAEC 8 standard by growing species eligible for payments for legumes for seeds? It is already known that yes, it is possible, but subject to the condition resulting from the GAEC standard not to use plant protection products in such cultivation.
Another uncertainty concerned catch crops sown under the Carbon Farming eco-scheme – areas declared to implement this practice in the eco-scheme will also be able to qualify to meet the GAEC 8 standard.
Rapeseed straw must go into the soil
Several changes have been made to the Carbon Farming and Nutrient Management eco-scheme. An important requirement will be the practice of “diversified crop structure”.
A provision was introduced that in the case of rapeseed cultivation, straw after harvesting the main crop should be crushed and mixed with the soil or plowed under.
As part of this requirement, a new infringement has been identified: if the straw after harvesting rapeseed is not shredded and incorporated into the soil, a sanction may be imposed in the form of a reduction in payments, in line with the product of the severity factor and the durability of the infringement (20%).
This affects the principles of implementing the practice of “mixing straw with soil”. In the case of rapeseed cultivation in a field registered for the “diversified crop structure” practice, it will not be possible to combine it with the “mixing straw with soil” practice.
What species of winter catch crop?
In the new campaign, the regulations clarified the requirements regarding the species composition of the winter catch crop mixture. Last year, farmers wondered whether the winter catch crop must consist exclusively of winter species. Currently, the provision states that under this practice, both spring and winter forms of catch crops can be sown.
Simplifying “paperwork”
Eco-schemes and the practices included in them so far required farmers to keep a register of agrotechnical treatments in accordance with the template provided by ARiMR. The register concerned documentation, among others: in the Biological protection of crops ecoscheme or practices in the Carbon farming ecoscheme (…), such as “simplified cultivation systems” or “mixing straw with soil”. This year, some flexibility has been introduced in this respect – the necessary documentation can be kept in paper or electronic form, in a manner analogous to the ARiMR form – it is important that all the necessary information is included there.
It also turned out that the statements about the practice of “mixing manure (…)” and “using natural liquid fertilizers (…)” will remain with farmers for good. Confirmation of compliance with the requirements can be documented either by a geotagged photo or a “paper” statement.
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