Rural Development policy 2007-2013
Commission Communication: 'Towards a better targeting of the aid to
farmers in areas with natural handicaps'
The European Commission adopted today a Communication paving
the way for a new classification of agricultural areas with
natural handicaps. With the help of scientific experts, the
Commission has identified 8 soil and climate criteria as a
basis for objectively and clearly classifying such areas.
However, before presenting a legislative proposal, the
Commission needs more data to assess their feasibility.
Therefore, Member States are asked to provide simulations
using national data to show how the criteria might work. The
new classification system is likely to be in place in 2014;
meanwhile the current system remains in force.
Why is there a need for a Communication?
The aid scheme to farmers in areas with natural handicaps
needs to be refreshed in order to
- adapt the intermediate LFA
delimitation and payment system to the land management
objectives decided by the Council in 2005,
- improve its
transparency and objectivity while giving due weight to national
and regional peculiarities,
- promote the targeting of the
aid to the area for which the hazard of land abandonment is
Setting out a common framework for classifying areas with
natural handicaps, other than those which are mountainous in
character and those with specific handicaps, on the basis of
common objective criteria would enhance the transparency, the
robustness and the coherence of the area delimitation system
throughout the EU.
The data available to the Commission at pan-European level
are not sufficient for carrying out a simulation at detailed
scale of the application of possible common criteria identified
during the impact assessment, which should underpin a legislative proposal to
make the scheme more effective.
What is being asked for from Member States?
In order to facilitate the achievement of the Community's
tasks, and in particular to provide a solid basis for
elaborating the required legislative proposal, the Commission
asks that Member States simulate the application, on their
territory, of the biophysical criteria listed in the
Communication and to produce maps of the
areas that would result under such simulations. The simulations
should show the area that would be delimited according to the
biophysical criteria appropriately fine-tuned, when necessary
and according to the indications provided in the technical annex
accompanying this Communication, in
order to exclude the areas where the natural handicap has been
The simulations should be carried out at a sufficiently detailed
territorial level, e.g. LAU 2 in the nomenclature of territorial
units for statistics.
The resultant maps will not be considered as a new LFA
delimitation but will constitute a valuable means of gauging the
feasibility of the review options
identified and eventually underpin a future legal proposal
setting up the framework for a new LFA delimitation in a long-term
The Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and
Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions are invited to
discuss the main lines of the Communication. The Member States
are invited to carry out the simulations and send the resulting
maps to the Commission services during the six months following
the adoption of the Communication.
Common Biophysical criteria
The table below lists the common soil, climate and terrain
criteria for classifying land according to its suitability for
generic agricultural activity, as well as the threshold values
indicating agricultural areas with severe natural handicap to
||Length of Growing
Period (number of days) defined by number of days with
daily average temperature > 5°C (LGPt5) OR
||≤ 180 days OR
|Thermal-time sum (degree-days)
for Growing Period defined by accumulated daily average
temperature > 5°C.
||≤ 1500 degree-days
||Number and length of
continuous periods (number of days) within the growing
period for which daily maximum temperature (Tmax)
exceeds the threshold.
||One or more periods
of at least 10 consecutive days with daily Tmax > 35°C
||Areas which are water
logged for significant duration of the year (lack of
gaseous oxygen in soil for root growth or land not
accessible for tillage).
||Poorly drained soil
Texture and Stoniness
abundance of clay, silt, sand, organic matter (weight %)
and coarse material (volumetric %) fractions in top soil
||> 15% of topsoil
volume is coarse material OR
|Unsorted, coarse or
medium sand, loamy coarse sand OR
|Heavy clay (>60% clay)
|Vertisol, clay, silty
clay or sandy clay with vertic properties OR
|Rock outcrop, boulder
within 15 cm of the surface
||Depth (cm) from soil
surface to coherent hard rock or hard pan.
||< 30 cm
of salts, exchangeable sodium and gypsum (toxicity) in
> 4 deci-Siemens per meter (dS/m) OR
|Sodicity: > 6
Exchangeable Sodium Percentage (ESP) OR
|Gypsum: > 15%
||Number of days within
growing period as defined by temperature > 5°C (LGPt5),
for which the amount of precipitation and water
available in the soil profile exceeds half of potential
||≤ 90 days
||Change of elevation
with respect to planimetric distance (%).
The Commission services have also provided a citizens'
summary to impart further information on the Communication. The
summary is available [pdf] in the following languages:
What is the planned timetable?
The Commission presented a Communication to the Council, the
European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee
and the Committee of the Regions on 21 April 2009.
National authorities should send their simulations to the
Commission by 21 October 2009. The new classification system is
likely to be in place in 2014.
Less Favoured Area scheme: