Procedures by which the Information Regarding the Fertility Level of the Agricultural Land and the Changes Thereof is Obtained and Compiled

Issued pursuant to
Section 10, Paragraph two
of the Law on Agriculture and Rural Development

I. General Provisions

1. The Regulation prescribes the procedures by which the information regarding the fertility level of the agricultural land and the changes thereof is obtained and compiled (hereinafter - the information).

2. The information is necessary for objective evaluation of the land fertility level and the changes (improvement or degradation) thereof in the State and for the planning of soil protection measures in order to promote sustainable management of the agricultural land.

3. The information shall be obtained and compiled by the State Plant Protection Service (hereinafter - the Service).

[19 January 2010]

II. Obtaining of Information

4. To obtain information, the Service shall establish a representative sample frame of agricultural holdings (hereinafter - the sample frame), using the following selection criteria:

4.1. a region;

4.2. a type and texture of soil;

4.3. an area of the holding, specialisation of the holding, system of agriculture and the level of intensity of the farming;

4.4. a land fertility level has not been researched in the holding for the last five years or longer.

[19 January 2010]

5. The Service shall enter into an agreement with the owner or legal possessor of the land regarding the obtaining of information and conditions for obtaining.

[19 January 2010]

6. The Service shall carry out the soil agrochemical research and evaluate the research results in accordance with the methodology approved by the Minister for Agriculture.

[19 January 2010]

7. The following data is required to determine the land fertility level:

7.1. for a natural person - name, surname, personal identity number, and address of the place of residence of the owner or legal possessor of the land, for a legal person - firm name, registration number and the legal address;

7.2. a cadastre number, name, and address of the real estate (a county, a county city or a county parish);

7.3. a copy of the land boundary plan and the area to be researched in hectares;

7.4. a year, date, month of the research;

7.5. an area (a section) in which the average soil sample is taken (number and area in hectares);

7.6. soil type and textural group;

7.7. a type of the land utilisation;

7.8. soil water conditions;

7.9. topography;

7.10. a degree of stoniness;

7.11. indicators of soil agrochemical properties:

7.11.1. soil organic matter content;

7.11.2. the soil reaction pH;

7.11.3. the content of phosphorus (P2O5), potassium (K2O), and exchange magnesium (Mg2+) used for plants.

[5 May 2009; 19 January 2010]

III. Compilation of Information

8. The Service shall enter the data referred to in Paragraph 7 of this Regulation into the Soil Agrochemical Research Database of the State Information System for Monitoring of Agricultural Plants (hereinafter - the database) and shall update it.

[19 January 2010]

9. The Service shall prepare and submit reports to the Ministry of Agriculture on:

9.1. the land fertility level in a part of the sample frame - each year;

9.2. the land fertility level in all the sample frame, using all the data stored in the database - every five years;

9.3. the changes of the land fertility level in comparison with the information obtained during the previous research:

9.3.1. in a part of the sample frame - each year starting from the sixth year of operation;

9.3.2. in all the sample frame - after ten years.

[19 January 2010]

10. The information divided by types of the land utilisation at the holding, municipality, region, and State level shall be compiled and analysed in the reports on the land fertility level and changes thereof.

[5 May 2009]

11. The following soil research results shall be kept in the archive of the Service (in paper form) and the database:

11.1. information on and summaries of the land fertility level and changes thereof;

11.2. agrochemical research maps in scale of 1:5000 and 1:10000 and tables with the results of analyses.

[19 January 2010]

12. [19 January 2010]

IV. Closing Provisions

13. The reports on land fertility and changes thereof shall be available to the public.

14. The establishment of the sample frame referred to in Paragraph 4 of this Regulation shall be started on 1 January 2005.

15. Synchronization of the agrochemical research maps referred to in Sub-paragraph 11.2 of this Regulation with the Geographical Information System of the Register of Fields regarding the lands used for agricultural production shall be initiated on 1 January 2006.

16. Until 1 January 2007, the modernisation of the electronic database shall be ensured in compliance with the requirements for technical implementation determined for the State computerised information systems for granting of the official status.

[19 January 2010]

17. The methodology referred to in Paragraph 6 of this Regulation shall be approved by the Minister for Agriculture until 1 January 2005.

Prime Minister I. Emsis

Minister for Agriculture M. Roze

Translation © 2018 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)