The period for submitting uniform applications has successfully ended

(Photo: Pixabay)

In the Agro-ecological Program (AÖP), which was already far beyond expectations in popularity last year, the proportion of participating areas increased even more this year, with an increase of 3.9% compared to last year, and farmers applied for AÖP support after 4.2 million hectares. The largest increase was seen in the grassland land use category, which is related to the expansion of the number of optional practices, as well as the broadening of the possibility of applying previous practices.

– In the case of arable land, this year as well, the diversification of crop production was chosen for the largest area (over 2.18 million hectares), followed by the environmentally friendly use of urea fertilizer (almost 1.1 million hectares) and the use of microbiological preparations (over 1 million hectares).

– In grassland areas, grazing and intermittent grazing continued to be the most popular practice (on more than 187,000 hectares). Starting this year, the practice of using only alternating mowers has been expanded with the possibility of using rear-suspended or trailed mowers without stem breakers. Thanks to this, the farmers were able to take on more than 70% larger areas (78,000 hectares in other grasslands, 96,000 hectares in Natura2000 grasslands).

– In permanent culture areas, i.e. in the case of different types of plantations, as last year, mulching with perennial crops or turfing (on a total of 51 thousand hectares), the use of microbiological preparations (on 22.6 thousand hectares) and the prohibition of the use of substances dangerous to bees (13 thousand hectares) was the most popular. It is also a positive process that the number of people applying for support for young farmers, which encourages generational change, has continued to rise. After 6.8 thousand in 2023, this year more than 7,300 producers submitted this type of request for nearly 270 thousand hectares.

There were no substantial changes in the application and eligibility conditions for production-related subsidies

Among the data of the livestock sectors, the 206,000 dairy cows and the 223,000 mother cows show stability. Compared to last year, the demand for fattened bulls (62 thousand animals) and the demand for ewes (702 thousand animals) decreased. In the case of the targeted support of the plant growing sectors, it should be highlighted that support requests for cereal protein crop support were submitted in an area exceeding 120,000 hectares, which is almost double the 2023 value.

In the coming weeks, the Hungarian State Treasury will start checking the applications, in the form of administrative and on-site checks

With the help of the Territory Monitoring System (TMR), introduced last year, it examines whether the producers have fulfilled their commitments by analyzing satellite images, where there are gaps or contradictions compared to what was indicated in the application, and can ask clarifying questions if necessary. It is worth responding to these electronic inquiries as much as possible by correcting the requests or by submitting a geo-referenced photo when prompted. In this way, the farmers themselves can contribute to the prevention of on-site inspections and to early payments. The correction of applications will continue to be penalty-free until the end of September.

In order to ensure the transparency of the mentioned processes, targeted information will be published in the near future on the schedule of inspections, as well as on this year’s operation and novelties of the TMR.

AM