anx_III__table_1

BIOPHYSICAL CRITERIA FOR THE DELIMITATION OF AREAS FACING NATURAL CONSTRAINTS Member States need only check fulfilment of this criterion against those of the thresholds that are relevant to the specific situation of an area CRITERION DEFINITION THRESHOLD CLIMATE Low Temperature Length of growing period (number of days) defined by number of days with daily average temperature > 5 °C (LGPt5) or ≤ 180 days Thermal-time sum (degree-days) for Growing Period defined by accumulated daily average temperature > 5 °C ≤ 1500 degree-days Dryness Ratio of the annual precipitation (P) to the annual potential evapotranspiration (PET) P/PET ≤ 0.5 CLIMATE AND SOIL Excess Soil Moisture Number of days at or above field capacity ≥ 230 days SOIL Limited Soil Drainage Areas which are water logged for significant duration of the year Wet within 80 cm from the surface for over 6 months, or wet within 40 cm for over 11 months or Poorly or very poorly drained soil or Gleyic colour pattern within 40 cm from the surface Unfavourable Texture and Stoniness Relative abundance of clay, silt, sand, organic matter (weight %) and coarse material (volumetric %) fractions ≥ 15 % of topsoil volume is coarse material, including rock outcrop, boulder or texture class in half or more (cumulatively) of the 100 cm soil surface is sand, loamy sand defined as: Silt % + (2 × clay %) ≤ 30 % or Topsoil texture class is heavy clay (≥≥ 60 % clay) or Organic soil (organic matter ≥ 30 %) of at least 40 cm or Topsoil contains 30 % or more clay, and there are vertic properties within 100 cm of the soil surface Shallow Rooting Depth Depth (cm) from soil surface to coherent hard rock or hard pan ≤ 30 cm Poor Chemical Properties Presence of salts, exchangeable sodium, excessive acidity Salinity: ≥ 4 deci-Siemens per meter (dS/m) in topsoil or Sodicity: ≥ 6 Exchangeable Sodium Percentage (ESP) in half or more (cumulatively) of the 100 cm soil surface layer or Soil Acidity: pH ≤ 5 (in water) in topsoil TERRAIN Steep Slope Change of elevation with respect to planimetric distance (%) ≥ 15 %

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-08 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.