December 2014

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

In this issue:
· Cross Compliance 2015
· Countryside Stewardship Capital
Grants

Cross Compliance 2015

The most obvious change is that all of the GAECs and most of the SMRs have been renumbered. Some GAECs have also been
split or merged into other rules; whilst others have been removed. This summary includes the new regulations but you should read the whole Guide to make sure what applies to you.

Responsibility:
Claimants must follow cross compliance for the whole calendar year. The claimant is the person responsible for making sure the cross compliance rules are met. They must make sure that contractors, employees or family members also meet the rules. However, for those SMRs about the identification and traceability of animals, it is the person  with day-to-day responsibility for the animals on the holding who is responsible for meeting the rules (even if they don’t own the animals or the land that they graze on).
Responsibility for the welfare of all farmed animals lies jointly with:
· The person who has day to day
responsibility for the animals, and
· The owner of the animals.
The rules apply to all the land on a claimant’s holding (including common land and land under a rural development scheme).

GAEC 1: Establishment of buffer strips along watercourses (changed)

You must:
· Take all reasonable steps to maintain a green cover on land within 2 metres of the centre of a watercourse or field ditch, or to 1m on the landward side of the top of the bank. This rule does not apply to land forming part of a parcel of 2 hectares or less.

· Produce and keep a map of your holding showing:
o all surface waters and land within 10 metres of them
o all springs, wells and boreholes on your holding or within 50 metres of the boundary and land within 50 metres of them
o update the map with any changes within 3 months from the date of change.

You can use the same map produced if your land is under Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs).

GAEC 4: Minimum soil cover (New)

You must have a minimum soil cover (this is vegetative not depth of soil).
What you must do
You must take all reasonable steps to protect soil by having a minimum soil cover unless there is an agronomic justification for not doing so. Minimum soil cover must be
provided by any type of vegetative cover, permanent crop or stubble.

Acceptable agronomic reasons for not providing cover include:
· The land is being prepared as a seedbed, and the land is sown within 14 days of preparation, where weather conditions allow

· Managed land used for pest, disease and weed control including for example, land that has been cultivated or ploughed to prevent weeds going to seed.

· Land used for outdoor pig or poultry production or overwintered livestock where it is not reasonably practicable to maintain cover due to the actions of the animals

· Land where the action of frost on the land over winter is used to break down the soil naturally to create a seedbed for spring cropping

GAEC 5: Minimum land management to limit erosion (New)

You must have minimum land management which reflects site specific conditions in order to limit erosion.

What you must do
You must put measures in place to limit soil and bankside erosion caused, for example, by: cropping practices, livestock management, wind, vehicles, and machinery.

Where soil compaction may cause soil erosion, you must, where appropriate, cultivate post-harvest land and late harvested crops using primary cultivation methods like ploughing.

You could lose some of your scheme payments if erosion is over a single area greater than 1 hectare, or caused by livestock trampling along a continuous stretch of more than 20 metres long and 2 metres wide of a watercourse.

 

GAEC 6: Maintenance of soil organic matter level through appropriate practices, including a ban on burning arable stubble, except for plant health reasons (New)

 

You must maintain your soil organic matter through appropriate practices. Burning of arable stubble is not allowed except for plant health reasons.

 

GAEC 7a: Boundaries (Changed) Hedgerows; Cutting, trimming and removal

 

You must not cut or trim a hedgerow or trees, except in an orchard, between 1 March and 31 August (inclusive) unless:

· The hedgerow/tree overhangs a public highway, road or footpath and the overhanging hedgerow obstructs the passage of, or is a danger to, vehicles, pedestrians or horseriders
· The hedgerow/tree is dead, diseased, damaged or insecurely rooted and because of its condition is likely to cause danger by falling on to a highway, road or footpath;

· It is to carry out hedge-laying or coppicing during the period 1 March to 30 April (inclusive)

· You have received written permission from the Secretary of State for the Environment to cut or trim during the month of August for the purposes of sowing oil seed rape or temporary grassland during the same August.

Stone Walls, Earth Banks and Stone Banks

An earth bank is a mound without a hedgerow, distinct from the surrounding land form.

A stone bank is an earth bank faced with natural stone.

You must not:

· Remove existing stone walls, earth banks and stone banks

· Remove earth or stone from an existing stone wall, stone bank or earth bank.

Except if you:

· Widen an existing gateway in a stone wall, earth bank or stone bank to allow machinery or livestock access. The gateway should be no wider than 10 metres and the newly created ends finished to a vertical face.

· Repair another stone wall, earth bank or stone bank on your holding which is in a better condition than the one you remove the stone or earth from

 

SMR1 Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (changed)

All records must be kept for 5 years, even those relating to areas removed from NVZ status. Records required have not changed.
Closed Periods
You must not spread organic manures with a high readily available N content (where more than 30% of the total N content is readily available to the crop) in the
following periods:
Sandy & shallow soils      All other soils
Grassland   1 Sep to 31 Dec                15 Oct to 31 Jan
Tillage land 1 Aug to 31 Dec              1 Oct to 31 Jan

If you are in an NVZ designated for the first time in 2013, you do not have to keep to these closed periods until after July 2015.

Also now included within SMR1:
SSAFO Regulations
You must notify your local Environment Agency office in writing about a new, substantially enlarged, or substantially reconstructed installation (Slurry/manure/silage store) at least 14 days before work constructing the new or improved installation is to begin.

You must also notify your local EA office of the place where field silage is to be made at least 14 days before that site is first used.

TB Tests
From 1 January 2015 there will be a Zero Tolerance approach to late TB tests. Any tests that are completed late, even by one day, will be reported to the RPA and will result in a financial penalty being applied to any Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments.

Countryside Stewardship Capital Grants:
These are separate from those expected to be offered through the Higher or Mid Tier Environmental Agreements. Applications for these grants will not be made online. Application forms will be available to download.

The Hedgerows and Boundaries Capital Grant  offers funding up to a maximum of £5,000 per applicant for farmers and land managers who don’t have a Higher or Mid Tier agreement or a current ES agreement. These grants will mainly be for small-scale restoration of boundary features, likeh hedgerows and stone walls. Application 2 March – 30 April 2015

Water capital grants of up to £10,000 per holding will be available to create infrastructures which will help reduce water pollution from agriculture. Grants for works in 2015 will be available in Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) priority catchments only. CSF advisers will be available to help farmers and land managers to submit applications and deliver capital works. Application 2 March – 30 April 2015

Woodland creation grants should be available from February 2015 for a short period. Applications will be scored and selected competitively. They will usually need to be
for at least 3 hectares and each planting block will need to be at least 0.5 hectares in area. Woodland management plans and feasability plans can be applied for at any
time.
As ever there are a lot of unpublished details. Further guidance is scheduled for December and January.