On 7 September, the European Commission (EC) approved the amendments to the Latvian Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan (CAP SP) 2023-2027, developed by the Ministry of Agriculture (ZM).
The Latvian CAP SP 2023-2027 is a medium-term policy planning document that defines support priorities and instruments for agriculture and rural development. Upon initiating the implementation of the CAP SP and developing the national legislation for its application, it was found that several support eligibility conditions and measures (interventions) needed to be refined to ensure their correct administration and application in accordance with Latvia's agro-climatic conditions. Therefore, a draft of the CAP SP amendments was submitted to the EC on 9 May 2023.
The amendments were made to improve:
- definitions of agricultural land maintenance and crops;
- conditions for Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) standards, such as the preservation of permanent grassland, sowing on steep slopes, and the creation of landscape features on arable land;
- conditions for eco-schemes, providing that from 2024, farmers will have the opportunity to receive eco-scheme support for a wider range of crops;
- several rural development interventions; for example, eligibility conditions have been clarified for agri-environmental and LEADER interventions, while in intervention LA6 'Support for young farmers for business start-ups', the period for obtaining education has been extended from 3 to 4 years. Additionally, the monitoring period for rural development interventions has been reduced from five to three years for small projects (with total eligible costs of up to 50,000 euros);
- sectoral intervention measures; moving forward, when developing operational programmes for producer organisations, these may also include coverage of staff and administrative costs related to the management of an operational fund or the preparation, implementation, and follow-up of an operational programme.
No new support measures (interventions) were introduced through these CAP SP amendments, and no measures were deleted. The amendments do not affect the initially planned objectives and performance indicators set out in the CAP SP, nor is the established financial plan altered.
ZM specialists continue to work actively on developing the national legislation required to put the CAP SP amendments into practice and begin their implementation.
Please note that amendments to the direct payment regulations come into force this year, which abolish the requirement to harvest grass mass by 15 September, except in biologically valuable grasslands. The reference area for permanent grassland has also been reduced. Furthermore, when sowing winter crops on steep slopes before 20 September, farmers may now choose the most suitable sowing direction.
Meanwhile, changes to the LA6 intervention 'Support for young farmers for business start-ups' are already included in the approved Cabinet of Ministers regulations regarding the implementation of the intervention.
A total of 2.5 billion euros is allocated for the implementation of the CAP SP 2023-2027, with the largest share of funding, 1.714 billion euros, to be provided in the form of direct payments. 0.791 billion euros is allocated for rural development measures, and 10.1 million euros for market organisation support measures.