The Federal Council has revised the GAPDZV and introduced new rules in Section 7(1) of the GAPDZV governing the designation of permanent grassland. Agricultural land that was arable land on 1 January 2026 will remain arable land in future, even if it is not ploughed for a period of five years and is covered with vegetation. This means that permanent grassland will no longer be established on existing arable land in future.
With this new provision, the Bundesrat is making use of the option granted to Member States by the Union to simplify administration:
“Member States may decide that land classified as arable land on 1 January 2026 shall continue to be classified as arable land and not as permanent grassland, even if the [five-year period] has expired and the land has not been ploughed, no tillage has been carried out on it, or it has not been reseeded with other types of grass or other forage crops.” (Article 1(1) of Regulation (EU) No 2649/2025)
The new regulation is intended to provide greater flexibility. The automatic designation of permanent grassland after a period of 5 years may place unnecessary regulatory pressure on farmers who wish to retain the arable status of their land (see Recital 6 of Regulation (EU) No 2649/2025).
The automatic conversion of arable land into permanent grassland currently means that farmers must plough their land regularly in order to retain its arable status. Correspondingly, this creates a need for the administrative authorities to monitor the establishment of permanent grassland on eligible land. The abolition of the automatic conversion of arable land to permanent grassland will ease the burden on both farmers and the administration.
In future, farmers will no longer be required to plough their arable land within a five-year period in order to retain its arable status. Arable status will be retained even if the land is taken out of production for an extended period. This rule applies without farmers having to submit a declaration.
Exception for declarations submitted by 30 September 2026
However, farmers may still declare by 30 September 2026 that the new regulation should not apply to certain areas (see Section 7(1), sentence 3, GAPDZV). This declaration means that permanent grassland will continue to be established automatically on the specified areas, provided the land has not been ploughed for five years and is covered with vegetation.
The declaration is required if the farmer plans to subject certain areas to AUKM obligations in future which require permanent grassland, or has undertaken to establish permanent grassland on certain arable land. Farmers should therefore check whether permanent grassland is to be established on certain areas of arable land. A declaration must be submitted to the authorities for these areas. The declaration cannot be amended or withdrawn. It is not possible to make subsequent changes to the details of the areas, such as the size of the area specified in the declaration.
If the farmer misses the deadline, the arable land will no longer be automatically converted to permanent grassland once the five-year period has expired. The area will retain its arable status, even if it has not been ploughed for more than five years and is left to self-seed or is greened through sowing.
Permanent crops and other land
The new regulation applies only to land that was arable land on 1 January 2026. Other land that is converted to arable land only after the cut-off date remains subject to the ploughing regulation. This means that permanent crop areas or permanent grassland areas converted to arable land after 1 January 2026 must be ploughed within five years to prevent the automatic creation of permanent grassland. Farmers must continue to bear in mind the five-year period for these newly created arable areas.