Less arable land for new biodiversity areas
Published: Wednesday, Jan 24th 2024, 16:20
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The Federal Council wants to take less arable land into account for new biodiversity areas than previously planned. This is one of numerous provisions that the Federal Council submitted for consultation on Wednesday with the package of ordinances on agricultural policy from 2022.
The consultation lasts until May 1. The changes mainly affect the social and economic areas of agriculture and are already known. For example, the federal government will be able to contribute to the premiums for crop insurance. Furthermore, in future, partners who work on the farm must be covered by social insurance in order to receive direct payments.
The Federal Council has now made some clarifications. This also concerns the new biodiversity areas. Last December, the parliament demanded the postponement of the 3.5% requirement in the ecological performance certificate until 2025 with the adoption of a motion by St. Gallen SVP member of parliament Esther Friedli.
The requirements for the 3.5 percent in arable farming will now also be made "more flexible", as representatives of the Federal Office for Agriculture announced at a background meeting on Wednesday.
Specifically, only 3.5 percent of open arable land must be established as biodiversity areas. Previously, the percentage included artificial meadows as well as open arable land. This step reduces the impact by 40 percent: Only 5600 hectares instead of 9300 new areas of arable land are planned.
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