It may seem a little early to be thinking about next year’s Basic Payment Scheme application, however, now is the time to start checking your cropping plans against the current BPS greening rules.

Any BPS applicant with more than 10ha of arable land must consider the greening rules when thinking about their cropping for the next year.

For those with between 10ha and 30ha of arable land, you must grow at least two different crops and neither crop should take up more than 75% of your total arable area.

If you grow over 30ha of arable crops, then you must grow at least three different crops.  Of these crops, the main crop cannot cover more than 75% of the total arable area and the two main crops cannot total more than 95% of the total arable area.

There are, however, several exemptions that may apply in certain scenarios.

Those that are subject to the greening rules must also consider which Environmental Focus Areas they will use in their BPS 2020 application.

We are more than happy to run through your 2020 cropping plan with you now to check that it will comply with the Basic Payment greening regulations.  Doing so now will save time when it comes to putting together your next BPS application and will certainly save the need for any lastminute changes to meet the rules. 

Contact Sophie at sophiecahill@fcgagric.com or your local FCG Office for more information or specific queries.