Reference prices and average yield data for this year’s damage mitigation benefit

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Damaged producers will be able to submit their application for damage mitigation benefits electronically this year as well from the beginning of November, which they can do on the website of the Hungarian State Treasury under the menu item Electronic application management→Agricultural risk management system. The application can be submitted multiple times within the submission deadline, but the State Treasury and the agricultural damage assessment body will take into account the last application submitted by 24:00 on November 30, 2023., the submission deadline of November 30, 2023 forfeit. In the application for the damage mitigation benefit, the current year and reference yield value of the plant culture can be established using the specified reference prices. In the case of crops for which a price band is established in addition to the reference price, a price different from the reference price but falling within the price band and certified by an invoice or production contract can also be used to calculate the reference yield value. If the producer does not have his own yield data for one of the years of the reference period for a crop, then the published 2018-2022. annual average yield data can be used. The 2018-2022. in addition to the average yield data for 2023, the average yield data for 2023 is also available, which must only be used in the application for the damage mitigation benefit if the producer does not have his own yield data for the current year because the crop harvest level does not yet exceed 50 % -five. The published reference prices and average yield data for the reference period may be revised by the Ministry of Agriculture (e.g. based on the final KSH data). The reference data modified in the framework of the review are only relevant from the point of view of the damage mitigation allowance for the current year and they do not entitle the producer to subsequently amend his request for damage mitigation allowance from previous years.

The basis of the damage mitigation benefit is the difference between the current year’s return value and the reference return value, i.e. the decrease in return value

The amount of the damage mitigation benefit can be up to 80 percent of the yield loss, if the injured farmer has adequate agricultural insurance. At the same time, the agricultural producer is entitled to half of the damage mitigation benefit otherwise due to him, if at least half of the plant-level reference yield value – for the given damage mitigation year – was not affected by drought, downpours, hail, agricultural floods, spring frost, autumn frost, characteristic of the damaged crop, agricultural insurance covering winter frost or storm damage. The State Treasury will decide on the application for damage mitigation benefits by the end of March 2024 at the latest, and will make the payments to the farmers who have suffered damage.

AM