Definition: Fallow land

Category: Agriculture statistics

All arable land included in the crop rotation system, whether worked or not, but with no intention to produce a harvest for the duration of a crop year (Regulation 1200/2009).

All arable land either included in the crop rotation system or maintained in good agricultural and environmental condition (GAEC), whether worked or not, but with no intention to produce a harvest for the duration of a crop year (Regulation 2015/1391).

The essential characteristic of fallow land is that it is left to recover, normally for the whole of a crop year.

Fallow land may be:

1. bare land bearing no crops at all;
2. land with spontaneous natural growth, which may be used as feed or ploughed in;
3. land sown exclusively for the production of green manure (green fallow). http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:329:0001:0028:EN:PDF European Union, Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1391 of 13 August 2015 amending Regulation (EC) No 1200/2009 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1166/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on farm structure surveys and the survey on agricultural production methods, as regards livestock unit coefficients and definitions of the characteristics, Official Journal of the European Union No L 215, 14.8.2015, p. 11 – 33