Greening

For example, within the framework of the so-called “greening” a new green direct premium is available in addition to the established cross compliance provisions (e.g. animal welfare and health, environmental requirements, ....).

The full greening payment and basic payment are only granted subject to compliance with the greening requirements, which are tied to specific requirements serving an environmentally benign agriculture.

This includes certain crop rotation requirements serving crop diversification, the maintenance of permanent pasture and the establishment or maintenance of Ecological Focus Areas on arable land.

For compliance with the greening requirements in respect of Ecological Focus Areas, farmers are offered equivalent methods under the Austrian Agri-environmental Programme (ÖPUL). Farmers participating in the ÖPUL measure “Environmentally sound and biodiversity promoting management” automatically fulfil the greening requirements.

For organic farms, the greening requirements are considered to be met automatically. Also holdings with more than 75 percent of permanent grassland or more than 75 percent of alternating meadows, clover grass and set-aside areas as well as holdings with less than 10 hectares of arable land are exempt from the requirements of crop diversification and the requirements concerning Ecological Focus Areas.

On arable land in NATURA 2000 areas, the greening requirements must be met unless other nature conservation requirements exist.

1. Maintenance of permanent pasture

At the EU Member State level, permanent pastures have to be preserved in compliance with the maximum tolerance range of 5 percent. Each EU Member State had to adopt an absolute ban on the ploughing up and conversion of permanent pastures for specific areas in NATURA 2000 areas.

The list of the specific areas subject to the conversion ban which has been prepared for Austria, is available at AMA-Merkblatt "Direktzahlungen 2020 - Greening“.

2. Crop diversification

Holdings with 10 to 30 hectares of arable land have to cultivate at least two crops per year; none of the crops may cover more than 75 percent of the arable land.

Holdings with more than 30 hectares of arable land have to cultivate at least three arable crops, whereby two crops together must not account for more than 95 percent of the total arable land. For the purposes of crop diversification, an agricultural crop is a defined botanical genus (for example wheat (Triticum), oats (Averna), rye (Secale) or, in the case of the cruciferous plants (Brassicaceae), plants of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) and the cucurbit family (Curcurbitaceae), of a defined botanical species. For example, rapeseed (Brassica napus), a botanical species of the cruciferous plants, is considered a crop.

Moreover, “fallow land” and “grass or other herbaceous forage” are each considered to be separate agricultural crops.

For the purpose of crop diversification, summer and winter cereals are considered to be two separate crops.

3. Ecological focus areas

Since 2015 holdings with more than 15 hectares of arable land have had to possess five percent of Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) on arable land.

The following areas qualify as Ecological Focus Areas: Areas lying fallow (set-aside areas), landscape elements (LSE) protected in the framework of cross compliance (CC), areas with nitrogen-fixing crops and catch crops as well as areas with short rotation coppice. Since the application year 2018, also areas lying fallow that are used for honey plants (with pollen-rich and nectar-rich species) and areas with miscanthus as well as, since 2019, areas with Silphium perfoliatum (cup plant) have been accepted as ecological focus areas.

Areas with catch crops, with short rotation coppice, with miscanthus or Silphium perfoliatum as well as well as fallow-land used for honey plants are weighted differently (depending on the relevant crop). In practical life this means that, for example, for one hectare of cultivated catch crops 0.3 hectares can be credited as Ecological Focus Area (1 hectare cultivated = 0.3 hectare EFA).

Subject to compliance with specific framework conditions each EU Member State has been permitted to decide on its own which nitrogen-fixing plants and which tree species are accepted as Ecological Focus Areas.

For details (such as the lists of the LSE protected under CC, the admissible nitrogen-fixing plants and the admissible tree species for areas with short rotation coppice; provisions concerning crop management; …), please see the AMA explanatory leaflet on direct payments - greening here.