APIA informs beneficiaries of DR-02 Intervention – Agri-environment and climate on arable land – Package 4 "Green Cover Crops" that in 2025, the commitments ongoing from the 2024 Campaign will be adapted (during the submission period for Payment Applications) to the conditions set out in the CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027.

The adapted commitments take into account the objectives of the initial commitment and introduce higher environmental and climate requirements. Beneficiaries are required to fulfill the adapted commitment for the remaining duration of the initial five-year commitment.

Starting with 2025, the following updated specific requirements outlined in the DR-02 intervention sheet, which differ from those applicable in 2024, must be observed:

• Sowing of the following green cover crops (*): pea, vetch, mustard, rapeseed, sweet clover, bird’s-foot trefoil, clover, alfalfa, bean, soybean, lentil, lupine, chickpea, cowpea, fava bean, sainfoin must be completed:
• by October 15 in administrative-territorial units (ATUs) with an average altitude up to 600 m;
• by September 30 in ATUs with an average altitude above 600 m. (P)
• The established green cover crop must be mechanically destroyed (including incorporation into the soil, where applicable) in the spring of the following year, no later than March 31. (P)
• The green cover crop must be maintained throughout the winter period (December–February).
• The use of chemical fertilizers is prohibited; only organic fertilizers may be applied prior to the establishment of the green cover crops.
• Beneficiaries must keep records of agricultural activities related to the implementation of agri-environment requirements.

(*) These crops may be grown as single species or in mixtures of species from the list. If mixed with species not on the list, the species from the list must predominate and be visually identifiable in the crop. (P) Requirements marked with “P” generate additional costs and/or income losses.

Given the changes to specific requirements, beneficiaries who initiated commitments under Package 4 of Intervention DR-02 in 2024 may request, in 2025, to reduce the initially committed area by up to 50%. The adjusted commitment, applied to the remaining area, must be maintained until 2028, the end of the original five-year period.

Reducing the committed area in 2025 does not require repayment of payments received for 2024 applications. The new surface area must be recorded in the 2025 land declaration when submitting or amending the payment application, by May 30, 2025.

Accordingly, the following have been updated:

• MADR Order no. 73/2025, approving the standard form for the 2025 payment application, as amended by MADR Order no. 147/2025;
• MADR Order no. 107/2025, on the implementation of agri-environment and climate compensatory measures and interventions under the National Rural Development Programme 2014–2020 and the CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027, starting in 2024, as amended by MADR Order no. 145/2025.