All the necessary data should be in order

Many farmers still feel a little nervous or fearful when the TMR is mentioned. Because “the satellite’s eye sees everything”. Of course, this is an exaggeration in this form. What is certain is that it sees more and more, more and more precisely, and what is more important: the legislator uses it for more and more things to compare the reported data with reality. The Territorial Monitoring System basically and primarily monitors whether there is a discrepancy between the data submitted in the Single Application and the satellite observations. According to them, the official goal is still to reconcile and resolve errors, not to punish in itself. In 2026, there is also the possibility of modifying applications without sanctions.

Moreover, the system did not start this game yesterday. According to the NAK summary, the TMR can already monitor, among other things, ineligible areas, inhomogeneity within the plot, different utilization, weeding, overgrazing, mowing during the prohibited period, irrigation, mulching, and even in some cases compliance with non-productive landscape elements or other regulations. In the case of orchards, it can also examine the plant density (according to promises, it will be used for this in 2026), there is also a related regulation in production-related support and AKG/ÖKO. In other words, the question today is no longer whether “we are being watched”, but rather how exactly what we declare and what we actually do in the field are in order.

Based on the communication, the identification of duplicate sowings has emerged as a new element, and mowing practices are being examined more widely. This shows the direction well: inspections are not narrowing, but are becoming more refined. And this is not slowing down. In Hungarian: what could previously be done with a date written in a notebook and a good memory may now need to be confirmed more precisely.

And here comes the point. TMR is actually capable of much more than what the inspection authority uses today! We can be sure that it can and will be extended to even more areas at any time. If today the system is able to check utilization, mowing, irrigation or mulching compliance, it is quite clear that in the future the control of new obligations may also come into focus. It is not a far-fetched idea that over time satellite or automated back-checking will become increasingly important for more AKG or other commitments. Not because they are “hunting” farmers, but because technically more and more everything can be easily tracked.

The good news is that a pile of paper is not the best answer. With a well-run farm management software, it is much easier to meet these expectations and the undertaken or mandatory regulations. If field-level data, the exact times of operations, utilization, sowings, second sowings, irrigation data or even mowing events are in one system, then during an inspection you don’t have to piece together what happened from memory afterwards, but you have the farm’s own, searchable history at hand. This is not only an advantage during inspections, but also in daily decisions: a clearer picture, faster retrieval, less administrative haste. Who spends December and January putting together a farming diary? Mostly those who administer on paper or “in their heads”.

In other words: the satellite can look from above, but the data still has to be in order below. Anyone who is still trying to keep this together on paper today will have an increasingly difficult task. But so much so that their work may be completely impossible (this is already the case for many today). For those who manage their farm data digitally and consistently, compliance is not an additional burden, but a manageable process.

It is therefore worth asking the question: if tomorrow they look even more precisely at what happened on the board, how would we be able to reliably report this on our farm today? From our head? From paper? Or from a system that is designed for this?

Because the most important question regarding TMR is perhaps not what the satellite sees, but how clearly we see the operation of our own farm.

2026.04.10.

Márton Molnár
Agricultural Community 4.0
Managing Director