Ley cultivation payment

You must farm eligible arable land, including permanent grassland classified as arable land, outside the areas eligible for compensatory support. Use the compensation-support map on the official programme page: area 13 is the area without that support. Eligibility depends on the land’s location, regardless of whether you receive compensatory support. Ownership, a lease or another land-use agreement can establish your right to farm it.

• For 2026, the ley must have established vegetation by April 1, so it must have been sown by autumn 2025. It must be intended for production and consist of forage grasses, forage legumes or a mixture. Grazing, mowing and seed leys qualify. Fine-leaved grasses and herbs can occur if the ley dominates and remains usable for production.
• Graze the ley, or harvest and remove it, at least once during the growing season and no later than the earliest permitted termination date. Grazing must be equivalent to one ley harvest.
• Do not terminate before October 20 in Blekinge, Skåne and Halland, or October 10 elsewhere. Both chemical and mechanical termination are covered. Plant-protection products are allowed if they do not terminate the ley too early.
• Your SAM application normally needs at least 4 hectares of agricultural land, and each claimed parcel at least 0.1 hectares. Below 4 hectares, you can qualify if you receive cattle support and your combined qualifying direct payments reach at least EUR 100. These are annual EU farm payments: basic income, cattle, young-farmer, precision-farming planning, carbon storage and reduced nitrogen leakage, organic production, ley cultivation, and flowering arable land and field-margin support. The same direct-payment categories are relevant to the EUR 5,000 active-farmer test and EUR 2,000 budget adjustment.
• You qualify automatically as an active farmer with a total in your SAM application of more than 36 hectares or more than 50 livestock units (animals weighted by species and age, not a simple headcount), or at most EUR 5,000 in direct payments last year. Applicants receiving no direct payments last year qualify automatically if expected payments are at most EUR 5,000. If none applies, the county will request additional information; you can still qualify, for example by showing farm costs or income.
• Maintain the agricultural land and comply with the basic land, animal and employer obligations attached to support.

Status

closed

Closes

4 May 2026

Round restrictions

• 2026 intake closed. Ordinary deadline April 9; late applications incurred 1% reduction per working day through May 4.

Apply through SAM Internet; first-time applicants need a customer number from their county administrative board. The 2026 ordinary deadline was April 9. Late applications lost 1% per working day, and applications after May 4 receive no 2026 payment. For applicants who must meet the 4-hectare minimum, the same reduction applies until that minimum is reached, no later than May 4. The cattle-support exception described above still applies.

Keep your application consistent with actual crops and land. The deadline for adding land was June 15. Parcel boundaries and crops can be changed through October 31 without increasing the claimed area; you can also withdraw all or part of the application. Satellite monitoring or inspections can result in reductions; you may be able to correct the application or submit Geofoto images showing compliance.

Report an unforeseen event preventing compliance to the county in writing, with an explanation and evidence, within 15 working days of being able to report it. A takeover application is always needed when a different personal or organisation number takes over, including family transfers and changes of business form.