Order No. 71 on subsidy for the conversion to organic farming.

The Order establishes regulations related to the grant of subsidies to agricultural restructure of farming areas and with the purpose of converting them into organic farming. The grants shall be regulated and authorized by the Danish AgriFish Agency - which will also ensure the adherence to the guidelines of this document. This Order does not apply to applications for exemption related to agreements made in adherence to regulations on rural development programs before 2007 or Order No. 589 of 8 June 2007 on subsidies for conversion to organic farming. The commitment period of subsidy shall commence on 1 September of the year of application and ends on 31 August five years later.
Criteria for eligibility of granted subsidy shall include: that the area is utilized for agricultural activities such as crop rotation, permanent pasture, fruit or berry or non-food production; that the area is not under other commitment requiring organic agricultural production or obligations of funding under other legislations; that the area is not in effect committed to subsidies for agri-environmental measures in adherence to Order No. 140 of 10 March 2005 or to Order No. 893 of 22 September 2005 - both related to subsidies for environmentally-friendly production and management of wetlands; that the area is not in committment for subsidies for buffer zones, maintainance of wetlands, for the procurement of production and/or conservation of wetlands in adherence to the Rural Development Act; and that the area for which funding commitments provide and consists a minimum area of ​​0.30 hectares. Grant for subsidy to these areas is subject to: the contractual commitment period authorized by the Danish AgriFish Agency for organic agricultural production; to the commitment gardens implementing organic production methods; to areas not under commitment of afforestation, regulations of forestry, forest conservation (except non-vegetated forest reservation areas); to areas not under commitment under the EU-Directive on the criteria for awarding funds to restore wetlands or EU-Directive on wetland restoration; to commitments of gardens yearly declared (see article 28) to the Agency no later than 1 August.
The Order consists of 13 Chapters: Content (1); Definitions (2); Administration (3); Commitment period and conditions (4); Changing and entry into commitments (5); Calculation of the subsidy (6); Subsidy (7); Duty of notification (8); Lapse and repayment of subsidy (9); Force majeure (10); Appeals (11); Penalties (12); Entry into force (13).