Declaration of Intent to Cease Agricultural Activity (DICAA)

DICAA Transmission Cessation of activity Work organization

The Declaration of Intention to Cease Agricultural Activity (DICAA) is a procedure established by the French State for farmers who plan to end their activity. The main objective of the DICAA is to encourage the planning of farm transfers and to promote generational renewal in the agricultural sector.

Summary

The DICAA is an important step for farmers who plan to stop their activity. It allows anticipating the transmission of the farm and benefiting from certain advantages.

Objective: The DICAA was established to encourage the anticipation of farm transfer projects and to facilitate generational renewal among farmers.
Mandatory: The DICAA is mandatory for all farm operators.
Deadline: It must be completed at least 3 years before the planned cessation date.
Procedure: The Mutualité Sociale Agricole (MSA) sends an information letter to farmers 4 years before their legal retirement age to inform them of the DICAA obligation. The form is available online or from the Chambre d'agriculture and must be returned to the latter.
Content: The form includes the farmer's contact details, farm characteristics, the planned cessation date, and the conditions for transferring the land.
Advantages: The DICAA is necessary to benefit from certain transfer aids, such as the Installation and Transmission Aid in Agriculture (AITA). It also allows, under certain conditions, to continue agricultural activity during retirement (subsistence plot, livestock, etc.).
Sanctions: There is no direct penalty for not completing the DICAA. However, failure to declare may result in the loss of certain rights, notably access to transfer aids and the possibility to continue activity during retirement.

Context

The State wished to encourage anticipation of transfer projects and promote generational renewal. It established a regulatory procedure through a declaration of intention to cease activity to be made by future transferors.

The obligation to inform the administrative authority of the intention to cease agricultural activity is provided by Article L. 330-5 of the Rural and fishing Code.

The DICAA is both:

a census of farms without successors,
a mandatory document to benefit from certain transfer aids and, if necessary, authorization to continue farm management on a derogatory basis as a retiree,
a proposal for ongoing support by the Transmission service of the Chambre d'agriculture to provide information, guidance in procedures, and help in finding successors.

Content

The farmer must indicate their contact details, some farm characteristics, a planned cessation date, whether there is a successor, and the conditions for transferring owned land. As its name indicates, this form is a declaration: "I intend to stop on this date and under these conditions," but of course, 3 years in advance, without certainties. It is a declarative procedure, at a stage of project progress.

Procedure

The MSA sends an information letter to farm operators 4 years before their legal retirement age to inform them that they must complete their DICAA at least 3 years before their cessation date.

Thus, the MSA sends this letter to farmers aged 58, at the end of 2022, those born in 1965.

The form is available online on the service-public.fr website or on request from the Chambre d'agriculture.

The form must be returned to the Chambre d'agriculture, which records it and then sends the list to the DDT. A copy of the recorded form is also given to the farmer.

A mandatory form

Completing a DICAA at cessation is necessary to continue activity during retirement in certain limited cases, to:

Retain a subsistence plot,
Remain head of a livestock farm affiliated in time or prorated off-ground,
Request a temporary derogation to continue activity when the operator is unable to transfer their farm under normal market conditions.

Completing a DICAA is also necessary to benefit from transfer aids such as AITA (Installation and Transmission Aid in Agriculture).

In case of non-compliance

Late declaration

There are apparently no penalties for late declaration. It is therefore advised to regularize the DICAA before cessation of activity.

Failure to declare

Without declaration, it will not be possible to benefit from transfer aids such as AITA (Installation and Transmission Aid in Agriculture).

Without prior declaration, it will not be possible to make a request to the DDT for derogatory continuation of activity in case of inability to transfer the farm under normal market conditions (Articles L732-40 and D 732-54 to 56 of the Rural Code).

The Rural Code also provides that without declaration, it is not possible to continue activity after retirement, neither on a subsistence plot, nor in a combined employment-retirement as head of a livestock farm with dogs-cats or off-ground (Article L732-39 of the Rural Code).