October 2014

Welcome to this edition of the Regulation Technical Update
prepared by the Farm Consultancy Group.

Basic Payment Scheme

This issue is a summary of the changes published in the CAP October 2014 Update.

Confirmed

Active Farmer:
A farmer is a person or business that carries out an agricultural activity, which means:
• producing, rearing or growing agricultural products. This activity can include
harvesting, milking, breeding animals and keeping animals for farming purposes
or
• maintaining an agricultural area so that it is kept clear of dense scrub (to be defined later).
A farmer will not automatically qualify as an active farmer just because they carry out an
agricultural activity or have a large farm.
A farmer who received €5,000 or less for the previous scheme year (before any penalties were
applied or cross compliance reductions were made) – for either SPS or BPS (including the
greening payment and any young farmer payment) – will automatically qualify as an active
farmer.
Still no clarification regarding “Real Estate Services” but if in doubt about the self-assessment
of “An Active Farmer” then see below:
Operators of any of the 5 non-agricultural activities (Airports, Railways, Waterworks, Real
Estate Services and Permanent sports grounds) may still qualify as an active farmer
if they can prove that agriculture is still a significant part of their business. They can do
this by showing that they meet one of the following 3 criteria (known as the ‘readmission
criteria’):
· Their annual payments for SPS or BPS (including the greening payment and any young
farmer payments) are at least 5% of their total non-agricultural receipts in the most
recent financial year
· Their total agricultural receipts are at least 15% of their total receipts in the most
recent financial year, (a list of acceptable receipts has been published) or
· Their principal business or company ‘objects’ include an agricultural activity.
Clarification on the last criteria is still being sought from the European Commission,
but more information will be available later this year.
If a farmer operates one of the 5 non-agricultural activities, they must send a report from
an accountant showing that they meet one of the first two criteria above, or evidence
that they meet the third criteria. RPA must receive this by midnight on 15 May.

Dual Use:
‘Dual use’ arrangements for all existing Environmental Stewardship and Woodland Grant Scheme
agreements (including those still to be signed in 2014) are now to be allowed.
This means that one farmer will be able to receive a BPS payment and another farmer or land manager
will be able to receive an Environmental Stewardship or Woodland Grant Scheme payment for the same
piece of land. However, they must meet all the rules of the scheme that they are in.
Where land is let out under a tenancy agreement (Agricultural Holdings Act or Farm Business Tenancy):
· the tenant will need to include that land when working out their greening requirement (because
the land is ‘at their disposal’)
· the landlord would not include that land when working out their greening requirement.
Both parties must keep written records to prove their eligibility. These arrangements are not
recommended and may not be available under any new environmental management scheme.

National Reserve:
Available for new and young farmers.
Worth approx. 3% of the total BPS budget.
Both have to show that they are in control of their business.
Must apply before May 15th

New farmer:
Must be >18 years old
Must have started their farming in 2013 or later.
Must first apply for BPS no later than 2 years after the calendar year in which they started.

Young farmer:
•is an active farmer
• is at least 18 years old, but not more than 40 years old in the year of their first BPS application. (This
means they cannot become 41 years old during the calendar year of their first BPS application), and
• took control of their holding within the 5 years before their first BPS application

Changed

EFA Hedges:
To count as an EFA feature, a hedge needs to be on or ‘next to’ eligible arable land. ‘Next to’ means that
the longest edge of the hedge must touch the arable land on at least one side.
If the only thing separating the hedge from the arable land is a feature which is eligible for BPS (for
example, a ditch of less than 2 metres wide), the hedge can be counted as an EFA feature.
A ‘hedge’ is any hedgerow (a row of bushes) growing on or adjacent to arable land which forms part of a
holding and has:
· A continuous length of at least 20 metres, or is part of any such length, or
· A continuous length of less than 20 metres where it meets (at an intersection or junction) another
hedgerow at each end.
There is now no minimum or maximum width for a hedge (originally was a max of 10m).

The hedge does not have to contain trees, but any trees growing in it form part of the hedge.
Hedges can include gaps, such as gateways.
Hedges on banks are eligible.
Hedges can include gaps. There is no limit on how many gaps a hedge can have – as long as each
individual gap is not more than 20 metres it will be treated as part of the hedge

The RPA have previously advised that if a farmer wants to use hedges as part of their EFA, this could
delay their 2015 BPS payment. However, they are now planning an approach that would mean farmers
who make claims involving hedges as part of EFAs will not be at a disadvantage in the timing of their
payments

EFA Fallow management:
It has been confirmed that on EFA fallow land, during the EFA fallow period (1 January to 30 June),
farmers can:
· Use herbicides and cultivation to control weeds (for example, Blackgrass, Ragwort, Hemlock).
However, they must follow the relevant cross compliance guidance.
· Sow wild bird seed mixes. However, they cannot harvest or graze it (during or after the fallow
period).
· Carry out drainage work. However, they must follow the relevant cross compliance guidance.
During the fallow period farmers must not declare land as ‘fallow’ if they store bales of hay, silage, straw,
muck or farm machinery on it.
A farmer can sow grass on fallow land during the fallow period as long as they do not carry out any
agricultural production during the period. This will apply to fallow land counted for both the crop
diversification and EFA rules (but remember that these have different fallow periods). The crop
diversification fallow period is 1 May to 30 June.
The fallow period for EFA is from 1 January to 30 June. There are no restrictions on how farmers use their
fallow cover outside of this period except those relating to unharvestable wild bird seed mixes (see
above). This means if the land has a grass cover, it can be grazed or made into hay/silage after 30 June.

Young Farmer Payment:
The payment will be worth up to 25% of the average value of a young farmer’s entitlements – up to a
maximum of 90 entitlements. All young farmers who apply for the young farmer payment and who are
eligible will receive a payment, but the exact percentage will depend on how many young farmers apply.

New

BPS Registration:
The first 3 phases of the new CAP Information Service (CAPIS) will be available shortly.
1. Verification:
All applicants will have to “Verify” themselves, on-line, with an approved company (currently only
Experian) before beginning the new on-line application process.
Information required will include:
Address shown on the electoral roll as your home address
Mobile phone number
Email address
UK Passport (valid for at least 6months) or a UK driver’s photocard licence
Personal financial data
2. Registration:
Will require your National Insurance number to register.
Check personal and business details
3. Confirm your land

Solar Panels:
Land parcels with solar panels on them will not be eligible for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). This
includes the land between, underneath and around the panels, even if it is being grazed, or is accessible
for grazing.
This also means that farmers cannot count this land, or any features on it (such as buffer strips), as an
Ecological Focus Area (EFA).
If the solar panels are concentrated in a single area within a land parcel (for example, a corner or one
end), and the farmer wants to claim for payment on the rest of the land, they must fence off the panels.
The 2 areas will then need to be mapped as separate land parcels. The land parcel containing the solar
panels will not be eligible.

Cross Compliance Soils:
GAEC 4 – Maintain minimum soil cover
GAEC 5 – Minimum land management reflecting site-specific conditions to limit erosion
A reduction in a farmer’s agricultural payments could happen where erosion is over a single area
greater than 1 hectare, or along a continuous stretch of more than 20 metres long and 2 metres
wide of a bankside or a watercourse.
GAEC 6 – Maintenance of soil organic matter level through appropriate practices
A soils guidance will be made available later this year

3 Crop Rule:
Winter and spring varieties of brassicas will count as separate crops.
What is a hedge?:
See under “Changed”

Fallow/Grass strips:
If a farmer has a strip of grass that:
meets the definition of both an EFA buffer strip and fallow land, and
is wider than 1 metre
They could choose to count the first metre as an EFA buffer strip, and the extra area as fallow land, as
long as it meets the other rules for fallow land.
If fallow land is alongside an EFA buffer strip, these areas must be ‘visually distinguishable’ from each
other. This means that an inspector should be able to tell the difference between the fallow land and the
buffer strip when they carry out an inspection.

Excess BPS Entitlements:
In 2015, if a farmer holds more entitlements than hectares of eligible land they declare on their BPS
application, they will lose the ‘excess’ entitlements. When RPA works out if a farmer has excess
entitlements, they will look at how many hectares a farmer has declared on their BPS application – not
how many they claim for payment.
If a farmer doesn’t apply for BPS in 2015 (and therefore doesn’t declare any land) they will lose all their
entitlements as ‘excess’ entitlements.
If a farmer holds some entitlements which they lease in and some which they own, any excess
entitlements will be taken away from these proportionately. This means that some or all of the
entitlements that were leased in won’t be returned to the person who leased them out.

Entitlement transfer:
BPS entitlements can be transferred at any time of the year. Unlike SPS, farmers won’t need to give 6
weeks’ notice before transferring entitlements. However, the farmer receiving the entitlements must
already be registered as an active farmer on the CAP Information Service before the transfer can take
place.
The deadline for transferring entitlements is midnight on 15 May for them to be used in that same scheme
year. However, the deadline for BPS applications for that same scheme year is also midnight on 15 May.
The person transferring the entitlements must leave enough time for the BPS application to be made. Late
BPS applications can be received up to midnight on 9 June but the payments will be reduced by 1% for
each working day the application is late after the 15 May deadline

New Farmers:
To qualify as a ‘new farmer’ in 2015, an active farmer must be at least 18 years old. They must also have
started their agricultural activity (farming) in 2013 or later. They must not have carried out, or been in
control of carrying out, any agricultural activity (at their own risk) in the 5 years before this.
New farmers will have to provide evidence to support an application for entitlements from the national
reserve.
New farmers must apply for BPS no later than 2 years after the calendar year in which they started
farming. For example, if a farmer started their agricultural activity in 2013 they would have to make a
BPS application by 2015 to qualify.

Environmental Stewardship Claims:
From 1 January 2015, Environmental Stewardship (ES) agreement holders must submit a claim by 15 May
each year to receive their scheduled ES payments. This is because the EU rules that apply to these
agreements have changed under the new Rural Development Programme.
Natural England is currently clarifying what will be needed in the claim and will write to all ES agreement
holders with more information.

More to come

1. Derogation for hedgecutting during August prior to sowing Oilseed Rape and grass ley
2. Full 2015 Cross compliance and Soils Guidances
3. Failed crops.
4. How to measure EFA’s if 2 or more different types of EFA are in the same field parcel
5. Young farmer evidence
6. Further clarification of the “Real estate services” part of the Negative list
7. Clarification of “their principle business or company ‘objects’ include an agricultural activity” within
the active farmer test.
8. Registration steps 4, Entitlements; 5, Eligibility test; and 6, BPS Application
9. Environmental Stewardship annual claim details.