Adopted farm bill adds emissions accounts and five-year retention

Folketing has adopted a new framework requiring covered agricultural businesses to prepare and report emissions and fertiliser accountsRetsinformation, with supporting documents retained for at least five yearsRetsinformation. Bill L 5, approved on 3 September 2026Retsinformation, specifies entry into force on 1 January 2027Retsinformation and defines the planning period as the calendar yearRetsinformation.

The account duty applies to businesses covered by measures made under sections 6–9Retsinformation. Emissions accounts must include the field plan, cultivation history, crop choices, mitigation measures, fertiliser applications, other field-level activities and natural conditionsRetsinformation. Fertiliser accounts must include nitrogen and phosphorus consumption, livestock and housing information, relevant land areas, and the specified tenancy and manure agreementsRetsinformation.

The text requires accounts for the completed planning period to be reported to the ministerRetsinformation. It delegates detailed content, preparation and submission deadlines, correction requirements and documentation rules to ministerial regulationRetsinformation. The five-year retention rule covers the specified plans and accounts with their supporting material, as well as field-level records prepared under rules made under section 17Retsinformation.

Registration in the emissions and fertiliser accounts register depends on statutory criteria. These include a business producing or receiving the specified organic fertilisers containing more than 1,000 kg of nitrogen annually, exceeding the specified 100 kg-per-hectare criterion, or controlling at least 10 hectares of land meeting the stated nutrient-norm conditionRetsinformation. The text separately establishes supplier-register reporting for businesses selling, supplying, buying or receiving nitrogen- or phosphorus-containing material with fertiliser valueRetsinformation.

The transition is material. Matters concerning planning periods from 2019–2020 through 2026–2027, as defined under the previous legislation, remain governed by the previous rulesRetsinformation. Existing registered businesses that remain required or wish to remain registered retain their registrationRetsinformation, and existing supplier registrations also continueRetsinformation. Earlier implementing rules remain in force until repealed or replaced under the stated provisionsRetsinformation.

The legislative basis is adopted bill L 5 of 3 September 2026 on sustainable management of nutrients and greenhouse gases in agriculture and forestry, particularly sections 4, 12, 15–20, 25 and 57.