European Commission representatives understand the need to clarify the definition of "active farmer"

On April 28, representatives of the association "Farmers' Council" (ZSA) and the Latvian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives (LLKA) met at the Ministry of Agriculture with Jerži Pleva, Director-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission (EC), and Juere Rute, an expert at the EC Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, and discussed the new greening requirement, which will be implemented from 2015 and is expensive for farmers. In addition, they discussed how to prevent possible fines for exceeding the state milk quota in the last milk quota year and the definition of an active farmer, or how to limit the receipt of area payment support for sofa farmers.

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Maira Dzelzkalēja, Deputy Chairwoman of the Association "Farmers' Council", emphasizes after the meeting: "There are many farms in Latvia that have more than 30 ha of arable land. Starting next year, these farms will have to grow at least 3 crops and allocate 5% to measures that will be called ecologically important areas. It is difficult for me to imagine how, in practice, a farm with 32 ha, which has so far grown 1 or 2 crops and observed a normal crop rotation, will grow 3 crops from next year and leave 5% of the area, or 1.6 ha, fallow. Such a measure will be very expensive for farmers, and the benefit to the environment will be questionable." During his meeting with EC officials, M. Dzelzkalėja repeatedly emphasized how important it is to understand the different situations of EU member states in the implementation of greening.

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As important as the issue of greening is the issue of the definition of an active farmer for Latvian farmers. Farmers believe that the definition proposed by the EU does not sufficiently combat the problems caused by couch potatoes, and it needs to be made stricter by excluding landowners who are not engaged in agriculture from the circle of applicants for support. J. Pleva optimistically looked at the possibilities of resolving this situation in favor of Latvia's interests, and emphasized that EU support must be fully legitimate - only farmers should receive EU agricultural support.

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During the meeting, J. Pleva praised Latvia for its high performance in absorbing EU funding, and expressed confidence that the next period should be equally successful. J. Pleva understands the concerns of farmers in Latvia and other EU countries about the impact of the abolition of milk quotas on the industry as a whole, but does not see any basis for a crisis. He mentioned the newly established institution – the Milk Observatory – as an important tool for regulating the situation, the main task of which will be to actively monitor the development of the milk market and offer stabilizing measures in case of shocks.