The European Parliament (EP) has approved amendments to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) regulations, which will give member states the opportunity to amend CAP Strategic Plans twice a year, thus providing an opportunity to quickly adapt to unforeseen situations in the industry and market.
At the same time, taking into account the unpredictability of the weather and economic uncertainty, the amendments to the regulation also provide for the possibility for Member States to set temporary deviations from the requirements of the Good Agricultural and Environmental Status (LLVS) standards 5, 6, 7 and 9, which include requirements for soil treatment, soil coverage, crop rotation and ecologically sensitive areas of perennial grass.
Temporary derogations are applicable if, in a given year, unfavorable weather conditions do not allow farmers to comply with the standards within the terms and periods specified. They can only be applied to specific farmers or areas affected by adverse weather conditions, and only for as long as necessary.
The amendments to the regulation also provide for the possibility of establishing special exemptions from the requirements of standards 5, 6, 7 and 9 of the LLVS. It will be possible to determine exemptions for a specific area based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria, such as crop type, soil type, specific agricultural type or damage to perennial grasses.
The special exemptions will be able to be determined in such a way that they solve the problems arising in the application of the standards, and in such a way that they do not significantly reduce the contribution of each mentioned standard to the achievement of the goal of soil protection and soil quality.
Also, the changes have affected the 8th standard of the LLVS, which includes several requirements, including the obligation to set aside a certain part of arable land for areas and features not related to production.
This requirement must be met without compensation and, given that arable land set aside for non-production areas or features cannot be used for crop or livestock production, compliance may place a significant financial burden on farmers. Realizing the severity of the burden and its consequences, the regulation intends to delete this requirement, providing that member states must necessarily introduce an eco-scheme for the area of arable land, which is set aside for areas and features not related to production.
Ecoscheme support has been introduced in Latvia for ecologically important areas, which include fallow areas of green manure plants, or non-productive areas, but a new ecoscheme will still need to be developed, which will provide support for the creation of new landscape elements.
Work will continue in the Ministry of Agriculture to make amendments to the Strategic Plan of Latvia’s KLP in accordance with the changes.
The Ministry of Agriculture
