The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Environment, and Environmental Policy of the Junta de Castilla y León has given the green light, starting tomorrow, August 1, to the harvesting of the areas registered as "non-harvested cereal zones" within the eco-regime of biodiversity spaces in cultivated lands and permanent plantations corresponding to the 2026 campaign.
On this occasion, the authorization is limited to "certain agricultural regions" of the provinces of Ávila, Salamanca, Segovia, Soria, Valladolid, and Zamora, after verifying, among other factors, that the plots maintain a "high availability of food" for the avifauna until the start of the preparation tasks for the next agricultural campaign.
The Junta also emphasizes that the stubble left after harvesting acts as a natural refuge against predators, so the environmental objective associated with this agro-environmental practice is maintained.
The Agriculture department argues that these conditions allow for the conservation of the effectiveness of the biodiversity eco-regime and to reconcile the protection of natural values "with the necessary adaptation to the agronomic reality of the campaign," in a context where "high temperatures" and wind episodes in the final phase of the crop have caused "significant damage" to the cereal, with mechanical breakages in the ears and grain falling before harvesting.
It is also noted that, in the plots with overripe cereal, gusts of wind have caused premature shedding and the falling of grains to the ground, which has resulted in a "high availability" of food for granivorous birds.
The authorization comes with several requirements. Among them, leaving on the surface, at least until September 1, the straw bundles generated after harvesting, so the use of straw chopping equipment will not be allowed. Likewise, the bundles must be maintained in bands distributed throughout the estate, and no "work of any kind" may be carried out on the land before September 1. Another obligation is to keep georeferenced photographs of the harvested plots that demonstrate the presence of food for the avifauna on the ground.
The Resolution will be applied in the agricultural regions of Arévalo-Madrigal and Ávila, in the province of Ávila; Vitigudino, Ledesma, Salamanca, Peñaranda de Bracamonte, Fuente de San Esteban, and Alba de Tormes, in Salamanca; Cuéllar, Sepúlveda, and Segovia, in the province of Segovia; Campo de Gómara and Arcos de Jalón, in Soria; in the Southern region, in Valladolid, and in Sayago and Duero Bajo, in the province of Zamora, all of them located south of the Duero River and "the most affected" by the weather conditions of the campaign.
The regional Executive has added that the technical services of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Environment, and Environmental Policy are still evaluating the situation in other areas in order to be able to expand the territorial scope of this Resolution "in the coming dates".
"With this action, the Junta de Castilla y León continues to apply the Common Agricultural Policy with criteria of flexibility when exceptional circumstances occur, offering legal security to farmers and avoiding penalties derived from extraordinary climatic situations, while ensuring the maintenance of the objectives of biodiversity protection and conservation of the natural environment," they have defended from the department led by Joaquín Antonio Pino.