Definition: Fallow land

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).