Wanneer heeft een landbouwer de beschikking en het beheer over zijn landbouwgrond?

When is a parcel of agricultural land considered to be “at the disposal” of a farmer, does he exercise “management” over the land he has declared, and does he use that land for an “agricultural activity”? This issue plays a major role in the context of the rules on direct payments to farmers under the Common Agricultural Policy, also referred to as direct income support. In Dutch case law concerning the interpretation of the relevant terms, frequent reference is made tot de judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Landkreis Bad Dürkheim. However, there are also other important judgments of the Court which concern the question of when a farmer is entitled to direct income support in respect of a specific agricultural parcel. The Agrarmarkt Austria judgment, delivered in 2024, shows that a parcel of agricultural land may be at the disposal of a farmer and under his management even where he has transferred that parcel, against payment of a fixed fee for maintenance and harvesting, to a user of his choice. In this article, we set out the legal framework applicable to the aforementioned terms, analyse a number of relevant judgments of the Court, in which particular attention is paid to Agrarmarkt Austrie, and examine their implications for implementation practice in the Netherlands.