The Official Journal of the European Union published on July 23rd a Communication from the Commission to all farmers concerning set aside from 2009. The proposal is the logical follow-up of Council Regulation (EC) No 1107/2007 fixing the rate for compulsory set aside at zero in 2008.

With this Communication, the Commission wishes to draw the attention of Community farmers to the Health Check proposal  to abolish compulsory set aside as from 2009 onwards.

The proposal was adopted by the Commission on 20 May 2008 and it is currently under discussion in the Council, the European Parliament and the other European Institutions. Under this proposal, farmers will not be obliged to set aside land from production in order to be entitled to the amount fixed by the set-aside entitlements. The set-aside entitlements will be turned to normal entitlements.

Compulsory set aside of arable land was introduced as a supply control mechanism. Market developments in the arable crops sector together with the introduction of decoupled aids no longer justify the need for maintaining this instrument, which  therefore should be abolished.

Based on the market outlook situation and the implementation of SPS, it was therefore proposed to abolish set aside as an instrument of supply control. However, under the proposals for cross compliance and rural development, Member States were given the appropriate tools to ensure that the present environmental benefits of set aside can be retained.

The abolition of compulsory set aside within the single payment scheme may in certain cases have adverse effects for the  environment, in particular as regards certain landscape features. It is therefore appropriate to reinforce the existing Community provisions aiming at protecting, where appropriate, specified landscape features.

Farmers could already benefit from the measure as from their autumn 2008 and spring 2009 sowings.