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From now on, filling out Excel spreadsheets must also be counted as part of field work

On 18 April, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the rules for direct payments. These will regulate the application procedure, support rates, and control mechanisms for support payments for the next five years. These rules impose a heavy bureaucratic burden on every agricultural activity.

At the moment, to receive the same level of support as last year, farmers almost have to become IT specialists – applications must be filled out in two or even three platforms, and one must record when heading to the field, what is being done there and why, manually enter farm waybills into systems, and so on.

Juris Lazdiņš, Chairman of the Board of the association “Zemnieku saeima”: “It is not just the bureaucracy that is concerning, but its lack of logic. At a time when there are approximately 3 months left until harvest, rules have been approved that regulate how this crop must be grown. The crop has already been growing for at least half a year, and neither crops nor herds are bureaucratic documents – agricultural work cannot be performed with retrospective effect. It is shocking how deep a bureaucracy we are intending to drive the country’s entrepreneurs and farmers into.”

Currently, it is difficult for Latvia to start meaningful negotiations with the European Commission, but even if it succeeds, all discussions stall at “Where is your research?”. It is precisely because of a lack of research that we have not been able to adapt European conditions to our circumstances.

All this has currently led to a situation that we could not even have imagined in 2004 when joining the European Union – a large proportion of farmers are starting to consider the possibility of farming without applying for European direct payments.”