Protection against golden yellow grapevine disease does not stop

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The minister reminded that according to the amendment to the government decree published on October 30, stricter regulations will come into force regarding uncultivated vineyards. The mountain judge will now warn those plantation users or owners who do not cultivate their vineyards properly during a vegetation period. Following the warning, the user has 7 days to declare that he will begin cultivation as intended or have the area cultivated by someone else. If this does not happen within 14 days, the mountain judge, after imposing a default fine, obliges the user to cut down the vineyard within 60 days. It is important that farmers comply with the set deadlines, otherwise the mountain judge in charge will order cutting down in the public interest due to breach of obligation, the costs of which will be borne by the owner.

The government is providing special assistance to mountain communities in slowing down the spread of golden yellow grape disease

That is why mountain communities’ purchases for the prevention or elimination of plant health emergencies and for plant health protection in the public interest are exempt from public procurement rules, provided that they do not reach the European Union public procurement threshold. István Nagy explained that the national protection will end on October 31, during which time aerial spraying has been completed on more than 2,000 hectares of land and laboratory tests are ongoing, and reconnaissance drones have already flown over about 10,000 hectares of land. The Ministry of Agriculture is grateful to all the professionals, professional organizations and farmers participating in the protection and reconnaissance for their unprecedented cooperation. A total of more than 200 inspection teams worked in the wine regions, inspecting 8,691 hectares of vineyards, involving 1,700 participating grape growers, mountain judges, village economists and plant protection inspectors. István Nagy also reminded that the government has adopted an action plan and allocated 3.8 billion forints to combat the American grapevine cicada, which spreads golden yellows. The Minister considers it important that grape growers continue to comply with plant health regulations and preventive measures. These include the destruction of infected vines and late-winter prunings, spraying with approved products during the dormant period, and planting controlled propagation material.