Support system for producers of certain arable crops (amend. Regul. 1765/92/EEC)

OBJECTIVE: amending the method of calculating the rate of extraordinary set-aside for arable crops to ensure that voluntary set-aside is no longer taken into consideration. SUBSTANCE: the extraordinary set-aside scheme (additional set-aside on top of the compulsory set-aside of a predetermined percentage of land applied without compensation to producers in a region where a regional base area has been exceeded) was introduced to contain the growth in the area of land used to grow cereals, oleaginous plants and protein crops in a given region and the resulting increase in cereal production (Regulation (EEC) No 1765/92). The voluntary set-aside was introduced in the 1994/95 marketing year as an additional method of controlling production. Nevertheless, the introduction of such a system involves certain risks, the main one being that producers are tempted to include land that should not normally be cultivated among their voluntary set-aside. Since this type of set-aside is not as effective in reducing production as compulsory set-aside, the Commission proposes that the method of calculating the rate of extraordinary set-aside exclude voluntary set-aside. This amendment in the method of calculation is to be applied where the 1995/96 cultivated base area is exceeded (in other words for the harvest that will be sold during the 1996/97 marketing year). At the same time, the Commission proposes granting Austria a special aid of ECU 138.86/ha for the production of durum wheat in regions where this crop is not traditionally grown, up to a maximum of 5 000 ha. �