Ordinance of December 7, 1998 on Agricultural Terminology and Recognition of Forms of Operations (OTerm) (LBV)

The concepts defined in this ordinance apply to the Agriculture Act (LAgr) and the ordinances derived from it.

The ordinance further regulates the procedure to be followed regarding: a. recognition of operations and various forms of inter-business collaboration; b. verification and delimitation of areas.

An operator is understood to mean a natural or legal person, or a partnership, who manages a farm on their own account and at their own risk, thus assuming the commercial risk.

When an operator manages multiple production units, these are considered as one operation.

...

The producer of goods referred to in Title 2 of the LAgr is deemed to be an operator.

The Standard Labor Unit (SLU) is used to measure the size of a farm using standardized factors based on labor economics data.

The following factors apply to the calculation of the number of SLUs per farm: a. Areas 1. Utilized agricultural area (UAA) excluding special crops (Art. 15) 0.022 SLUs per ha 2. Special crops excluding sloped and terraced vineyards 0.323 SLUs per ha 3. Sloped and terraced vineyards (more than 30% natural declivity) 1.077 SLUs per ha b. Livestock (Art. 27) 1. Dairy cows, dairy sheep, and dairy goats 0.039 SLUs per LU 2. Fattening pigs, replacement pigs over 25 kg, and weaned piglets 0.008 SLUs per LU 3. Breeding pigs 0.032 SLUs per LU 4. Other livestock 0.027 SLUs per LU c. Supplements valid in all zones (except the summer grazing region) for: 1. Sloped terrain with a gradient of 18 to 35% 0.016 SLUs per ha 2. Sloped terrain with a gradient over 35%, up to 50% 0.027 SLUs per ha 3. Sloped terrain with a gradient over 50% 0.054 SLUs per ha 4. Organic farming factors as per letter a increased by 20% 5. High-stem fruit trees 0.001 SLUs per tree

The calculation of the supplements referred to in para. 2, letter c, points 1 to 4, only considers the areas entitled to the respective direct payments. The calculation of the supplement for high-stem fruit trees referred to in para. 2, letter c, point 5, only considers trees for which biodiversity contributions for quality level I are granted.

A farm operation is defined as an agricultural enterprise that: a. is engaged in plant production or animal husbandry, or both activities simultaneously; b. comprises one or more production units; c. is autonomous in legal, economic, organizational, and financial terms and independent from other operations; d. has its own operating result; and e. is operated year-round.

A production unit is defined as a set of land, buildings, and facilities: a. whose boundaries visibly designate it as such and which is separate from other production units; b. in which one or more persons are employed; and c. which includes one or more livestock units as defined in Art. 11.

By way of derogation from para. 2, a housing facility rented or leased by the operator of a recognized agricultural enterprise from a third party is considered a production unit if: a. the owner or lessor no longer keeps animals of the category for which the housing facility is used; b. the required ecological services referred to in Arts. 11 to 25 of the October 23, 2013 Ordinance on Direct Payments in Agriculture (OPD) are provided; and c. the provisions of the October 23, 2013 Ordinance on Maximum Livestock Numbers, the OPD, the September 22, 1997 Ordinance on Organic Agriculture, and other agricultural acts are respected.

In a company comprising more than one production unit, the operating center is considered to be the location where the main building is situated or where the primary economic activities are carried out.

The condition stipulated in para. 1, letter c, is notably not fulfilled when: a. the operator cannot make decisions regarding the management of their farm independently of the operators of other agricultural enterprises as defined in para. 1; b. the operator of another agricultural enterprise as defined in para. 1, or their partners, members, shareholders, or representatives, hold a 25% or greater share of the equity or total capital of the operation; or c. the work to be performed in the operation is carried out mainly by other operations without a community as defined in Arts. 10 or 12 being recognized.

A common pasture operation means an agricultural enterprise that: a. is used for the joint grazing of animals; b. includes common pastures (Art. 25); c. includes buildings or facilities suitable for grazing; and d. is managed by a public legal entity, a community utilizing municipal land, or a partnership.

A summer grazing operation is defined as an agricultural enterprise which: a. serves for the summer grazing of animals; b. is separate from the owners' livestock farming operations; c. includes summer grazing pastures (Art. 26); d. includes buildings or facilities necessary for summer grazing; e. is operated during the summer grazing period, and f. does not depend on other summer grazing operations. A summer grazing operation comprising multiple levels of operations is considered a single unit.

A farming community is defined as the grouping of two or more farms forming a single farm when the following conditions are met: a. the collaboration is governed by a written contract; b. the farmers manage the farming community for their own account and at their own risk, thus assuming the commercial risk; c. the farmers of the farms concerned work for the farming community and are not employed elsewhere for more than 75%; d. the operational centers of the farms concerned are at most 15 km apart by road; e. before forming the community, each farm must meet the minimum workload of 0.20 UMOS.

A livestock unit is understood to be stables and facilities (excluding shelters in pastures) intended for the regular keeping of animals on the production unit as well as in alpine or communal pasture operations.

A livestock unit includes: a. for production units, the center of a livestock unit, as well as other stables and facilities located at a maximum distance of 3 km from the main building; b. for alpine pasture operations and communal pastures, the stables and facilities of the operations, regardless of their distance from the center.

In certain cases, the cantons may decide that stables and facilities are part of the livestock unit, even if their distance from the center of the livestock unit exceeds that mentioned in para. 2, let. a.

If, in a production unit, stables and facilities are located in the territory of several cantons, a livestock unit is situated in each of the cantons, by way of derogation from para. 2. The concerned cantons may decide that there is only one livestock unit.

The term "animal holders" refers to: a. operators as defined in Art. 2, who raise animals; b. operators of alpine farms and communal pastures, who raise animals.

A partial community of operation exists when the following conditions are met: a. several farms collectively keep livestock or jointly manage a part of their production branches; b. the collaboration and the distribution of land and animals are regulated in a written contract; c. the operators of the concerned farms work for the partial community of operation; d. the operating centers of the concerned farms are at a maximum distance of 15 km by road; e. before forming the partial community of operation, each farm meets the minimum workload requirement of 0.20 UMOS.

Activities provided by farms or communities to third parties in exchange for compensation, using their own land, buildings, facilities, tools, and labor, are considered services for agricultural production. Economic activities that are not linked to agricultural activities, such as renting or lending land, buildings, stables, or machinery to other operators or third parties, are not considered services for agricultural production.

Activities related to agriculture are considered to be those economic activities of farms or communities that do not form part of the actual production and that do not pertain to the processing, storage, or sale of products arising from their own agricultural production, provided that these activities are carried out by the operator, by the operator's family, or by the employees of the farm or community and that they are related to the operation.

The surface area of the holding (SA) includes: a. the usable agricultural area; b. the forest (excluding grazing areas of wooded pastures) and other wooded areas; c. the unproductive area covered with vegetation; d. unproductive areas such as spaces around buildings, yards, pathways, and uncultivable land; e. non-agricultural areas such as gravel pits and quarries, as well as yards and bodies of water.

By utilizable agricultural area (UAA), it is meant the area of a farm dedicated to plant production, excluding alpine pasture areas (Art. 24), which the operator holds throughout the year and is exclusively exploited from the farm (Art. 6). The utilizable agricultural area includes: a. arable land; b. permanent grassland areas; c. litter areas; d. perennial crop areas; e. areas cultivated all year round under cover (greenhouses, tunnels, frames); f. areas containing hedges, groves, and wooded banks that, in accordance with the Forests Act of 4 October 1991, are not part of it.

Not part of the utilizable agricultural area: a. litter areas located in the alpine pasture region or which are part of alpine pasture operations or communal pasture operations; b. permanent grassland areas (Art. 19) exploited by an alpine pasture operation or communal pasture operations.

Special crops include vineyards, hops, fruit crops, small fruits, vegetables (excluding canned vegetables), tobacco, medicinal and aromatic plants, as well as mushrooms.

Special crops are cultivated on the surfaces mentioned in Art. 14, letters a, d, and e.

The following are not recognized as useful agricultural areas: a. areas whose primary use is not agricultural exploitation; b. areas or parts of areas heavily infested with problematic plants such as dock, field thistle, wild oats, couch grass, ragwort, or invasive neophyte plants; c. areas located in a building zone legalized after December 31, 2013; d. equipped building plots legalized before December 31, 2013; e. areas included in golf and camping grounds, airfields, military training grounds, or areas demarcated alongside railway lines and public roads; f. areas with solar installations.

The primary use of an area is not considered agricultural exploitation when: a. it is significantly hindered; b. the yield from agricultural use is lower than that of non-agricultural use, or c. the maintenance function is predominant.

Areas as per para. 1, let. d and e, are considered useful agricultural areas if the operator proves: a. that the areas are located outside the non-agricultural use perimeter and their main use is agricultural exploitation; b. that they are areas within the meaning of Art. 14, para. 1, let. a, b, d, or e, of which they are the owner or have concluded a written lease; c. that the lease for the areas referred to in para. 1, let. e, was concluded in writing in accordance with the relevant provisions of the LBFA, and d. that the area used in a single tract by the operator is at least 25 ares.

Areas or parts of areas heavily infested with edible nutsedge are counted in the useful agricultural area, notwithstanding para. 1, let. b, if the competent cantonal service grants a license for the surface's remediation by means of a bare fallow. The area must be exploited in accordance with the information sheet of January 24, 2022, of the Conference of Cantonal Phytosanitary Services "The black fallow as a tool to combat edible nutsedge".

Areas with solar installations are considered useful agricultural areas if the following conditions are met: a. the solar installations fulfill one of the conditions of Art. 32c, para. 1, let. a or c, of the Ordinance of June 28, 2000, on Spatial Planning (OAT); b. the operator proves: 1. that they are areas within the meaning of Art. 14, para. 1, let. a, d, or e, of which they are the owner or have concluded a written lease, and 2. that executable building permits have been issued for the solar installations.

The areas cultivated abroad are included in the utilized agricultural area of the operation: a. if they are located in the foreign border zone defined in Art. 43 of the Customs Act of March 18, 2005; b. if the conditions required for the duty-free importation of goods produced on these areas are met, and c. if the center of the operation is located in the Swiss border zone.

By areas cultivated by tradition, this refers to areas that have been continuously exploited since at least May 1, 1984, by producers domiciled in the Swiss border zone.

When an area cultivated abroad by tradition is transferred, it may be replaced by an area of equal size, even if the latter is not cultivated there by tradition, provided that the former is not taken over by a producer managing an operation in the Swiss border zone.

The cantons maintain a register of the areas cultivated by tradition abroad and other areas located abroad that are managed by a Swiss operation.

Arable land refers to land subject to crop rotation. It comprises open fields and temporary grasslands.

Open fields refer to areas designated for annual field crops, the cultivation of annual vegetables and berries, as well as annual aromatic and medicinal plants. Flower fallows, rotating fallows, field margins on arable land, and strips sown for beneficial organisms developed on open fields are considered part of open fields.

Temporary grasslands refer to seeded meadows that are cultivated for at least one growing season within the framework of crop rotation.

The main crop is the crop that occupies the soil for the longest period during the growing season and is planted no later than June 1.

If the main crop cannot be harvested due to damage caused by a force majeure event as defined in Art. 106, para. 2, let. f and g, and 3, OPD, and is plowed after June 1, the subsequently planted crop is considered the main crop if the following conditions are met: a. it is planted no later than the end of June; b. it can be harvested in its usual manner.

A crop planted after June 1 can only be considered the main crop if the following conditions are met: a. it is the first crop since the harvest of the previous year's main crop; b. it is planted no later than the end of June; c. it can be harvested in its usual manner.

Permanent grassland areas are defined as areas covered with grasses and herbaceous plants that are located outside of summer grazing areas (Art. 24). They have existed as meadows or pastures for more than six years.

Permanent meadows are defined as areas that are mowed at least once a year for fodder production.

Permanent pastures are defined as areas used exclusively for grazing livestock. Brushy or unproductive parts are not included in these areas. However, wooded pasture areas used for grazing are included if they do not constitute summer grazing areas.

Wooded pastures are areas where wooded stands alternate with pastures without cover, as defined in Art. 2 of the Ordinance of November 30, 1992 on Forests.

Mown meadows located in the summer grazing region are part of permanent grassland areas if: a. they are mowed annually, and this method of use reflects an uninterrupted long-standing tradition, and b. the harvested coarse fodder is used on the operation for winter feeding.

Areas that are not mowed annually but meet the conditions defined in paragraph 5 for mown meadows in the summer grazing region are also included in permanent grassland areas, provided they are effectively used and if: a. they form a contiguous area of at least 20 ares; b. their use is not dangerous, and c. they are held under ownership or lease.

Permanent grassland areas also include a maintained chestnut grove with complete grass cover and a maximum of 50 trees per hectare.

Grassland areas refer to temporary meadows (Art. 18, para. 3) and permanent grassland areas (Art. 19).

Litter areas refer to cultivated lands managed extensively and located in wet and marshy places, which are mowed no more than once a year and at least every three years, and whose harvest is used only exceptionally as fodder in the operation.

Perennial crops are defined as: a. vineyards; b. fruit orchards; c. multi-year berry crops; d. multi-year aromatic and medicinal plants; e. hops; f. multi-year market garden crops, such as asparagus, rhubarb, and mushrooms grown in open fields; g. open field horticultural crops, such as horticultural and forest nurseries outside wooded areas; h. maintained chestnut groves with a maximum of 100 trees per hectare; i. multi-year crops, such as Christmas trees and Chinese reed (Miscanthus).

Fruit orchards are defined as compact form orchards comprising: a. at least 300 trees per hectare for apple trees, pear trees, plum trees, quince trees, kiwi trees, elderberry trees, persimmon trees, fig trees, hazel trees, almond trees, and olive trees; b. at least 200 trees per hectare for apricot trees and peach trees; c. at least 100 trees per hectare for cherry trees, walnut trees, and isolated chestnut trees outside of chestnut groves (selves).

Hedges and wooded banks refer to dense, wooded strips a few meters wide, primarily composed of shrubs, bushes, and isolated trees that are native and suited to local conditions.

Field groves refer to compact groups of trees and small trees that are native and suited to local conditions.

Hedges, field groves, and wooded banks must not have been classified as forest by the canton and must not simultaneously exceed the following three values: a. an area, including the grass strip, of 800 m²; b. a width, including the grass strip, of 12 m; c. an age of the stands of 20 years.

Hedges, field groves, and wooded banks are surrounded by a grass strip.

By summer pasture areas, the following are meant: a. communal pastures; b. summer pastures; c. hay meadows whose harvested grass serves for feeding during the summer pasturing. Areas located in the summer pasture region defined in Art. 1, para. 2, of the Ordinance of 7 December 1998 on Agricultural Zones are also considered as summer pasture areas even if they are used for other purposes.

Common pastures refer to areas owned by a public or private legal entity, traditionally used collectively as pastures by livestock holders who are part of a common pasture operation (Art. 8).

Summer pastures refer to the areas used exclusively for grazing, which are intended for summering animals and are part of a summer farming operation (Art. 9).

The coefficients set forth in the annex are used to convert livestock of various categories into livestock units (LU) or livestock units consuming roughage (LUR).

By animals consuming roughage, we mean cattle, equines, as well as sheep, goats, bison, deer, llamas, and alpacas.

Other factors may, if necessary, be determined by the Federal Office for Agriculture based on the nitrogen and phosphorus excretions of the animals.

The following are considered basic forage: a. forage from grassland and litterland: fresh, ensiled, or dried, as well as straw; b. large crops intended for animal feed in which the entire plant is harvested: fresh, ensiled, or dried (excluding ear maize); c. chicory roots; d. beet leaves and fresh, wet, and pressed beet cossettes; e. fresh fruits; f. unprocessed potatoes, including sorting residues; g. residues and by-products not dried or concentrated from the processing of potatoes, fruits, and vegetables.

All animal feed mentioned in Art. 3, para. 1, of the Ordinance of October 26, 2011, on Animal Feed, that are not covered by Art. 28 are considered as concentrated feed.

Operations with a minimum workload of 0.20 UMOS, communal pasturage and summer pasturage operations, as well as operational communities and partial operational communities, must be recognized by the competent cantonal authority.

Within an agricultural enterprise in the sense of the Federal Law of October 4, 1991, on Rural Land Rights (LDFR), only one operation can be recognized.

The lease or rental of a stable premises as per Art. 6, para. 2 bis, requires the consent of the competent authority pursuant to Art. 32.

Exploitations resulting from the division of an existing enterprise may be recognized under the following conditions

a. The divided exploitation

1. previously encompassed multiple enterprises in the sense of the LDFR, and the division was conducted based on these enterprises, or

2. included an enterprise that, with the approval of the competent authority, was permanently divided into multiple enterprises, and

b. for at least five years

1. the operators are not the owners, co-owners, or joint tenants of land, buildings, or facilities of the divided exploitation, and

2. each operator is the sole owner of their farming capital and manages the exploitation personally.

The operator must submit the application for recognition, accompanied by all the required documents, to the competent canton. The latter then verifies whether the conditions set forth in Articles 6 to 12 are fulfilled.

The decision of recognition takes effect on the date of submission of the application. When a later date has been agreed for the coming into force of the contract establishing a community, the decision of recognition takes effect on the agreed date.

...

The cantons periodically verify whether the farms and communities meet the required conditions. If this is not the case, they formally or tacitly revoke the recognition granted. The canton sets the date on which the revocation takes effect.

The cantons verify the recognition of farming communities, particularly in the event of a change in the operators involved, or if there has been a change in the ownership structure of the concerned production units since recognition, or if the existing agricultural lease agreements at the time of recognition are modified. Recognition is specifically revoked if: a. one or more member farms of the community no longer meet the conditions set out in Art. 6, para. 1, let. b, or b. the production units are essentially: 1. held in co-ownership by the operators, or 2. jointly leased by them.

The assessment regarding the conditions established in para. 2, let. b, is based on the ownership, leasing, and utilization relationships of the land and buildings, as well as on the shares in the yield value of the land and production units, excluding residential buildings. The yield values of buildings constructed, purchased, or jointly leased are allocated among the operators in proportion to their participation.

The canton verifies the declarations of land areas and the delimitation of land areas using the data from the official survey.

When the data from the official survey is not up to date, the canton delimits the land areas based on their actual use.

In the absence of official survey data, the canton conducts surveys.

The canton in which the operation, communal pasture operation or summer grazing operation, the operation community, partial operation community, or the area in question is located is competent for the recognition of forms of operation and community and for the inspection of areas.

If there is a connection between operations located in different cantons, the recognition and inspection fall under the jurisdiction of the canton where the center of operation of the largest operation is located.

When operations from different cantons join together to form an operation community or a partial operation community, the recognition falls under the jurisdiction of the canton where the operation of the member appointed to represent the community is located.

The cantons are responsible for the execution of the present ordinance.

The Federal Office for Agriculture supervises the application of the present ordinance.

Livestock communities recognized until December 31, 2003, are equated to partial farming communities according to Art. 12.

This ordinance shall enter into force on January 1, 1999.