The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), in the presence of Minister Florin-Ionuț BARBU, State Secretary Sorin MOISE, and the General Director of the Managing Authority for Rural Development Program (AM PNDR), Daniela REBEGA, organized a consultation on the draft Order regarding the implementation of interventions related to the plant and animal sectors. The meeting was attended by representative farmer associations from the plant and animal sectors.

At the beginning of the session, the General Director of AM PNDR presented the main changes to the order, which exclusively concern support provided through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). These include the elimination of the penalty submission period for payment applications, the modification of the active farmer definition in line with the provisions of the Strategic Plan (SP), and the changes related to eco-schemes in the plant sector in correlation with the GAEC 8 derogation for the year 2024.

Regarding eco-schemes for the animal sector, highlighted changes focus on easing access for PD-07 Increasing the Welfare Level of Dairy Cows and PD-08 Measure for the Welfare of Fattening Young Cattle, as well as the new eco-scheme PD-27 Increasing the Welfare Level of Cattle through Extensive Grazing on Pastures under Optimal Sustainability Conditions.

Other modifications outlined in the draft Order include:

- Introduction of the new support form targeting coupled support – maize for silage;

- Modification of the final deadline for submitting supporting documents for coupled plant support – for all interventions, the deadline is March 31 of the following year of application;

- Modification of eligibility conditions for coupled animal support in the case of PD-24 sheep/goats intervention (in line with SP provisions):

- Elimination of the sex ratio

- Eligible animals are those registered in the genealogical register/BND

- Animal age is calculated in the year of application, not at the application deadline

- Update of the Annex regarding the certificate issued by genealogical registry holders;

- Update of certificates issued by municipalities, with the removal of other signatures from the certificate, leaving only the signature of the Mayor/legal representative.

Furthermore, farmers will be able to benefit from payments granted through eco-scheme PD 04 Environmentally beneficial practices applicable in arable land more easily, and will have the option to choose how the allocated portion of unproductive land elements (5%) will be occupied with:

- unproductive areas and characteristics, including fallow land; and/or nitrogen-fixing crops and/or secondary crops.

This option can be correlated with the farmer's decision to comply with the basic requirement of GAEC8, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2024/587.

For the 4% share of arable land at the farm level, the farmer can opt for the mentioned variants with the specification that, when nitrogen-fixing crops or secondary crops are established, plant protection products will not be used.