Protect the environment and protect Single Farm Payment
This winter, Northern Ireland farmers will receive their first Single Farm Payment. In order to receive direct payments, farming practices must be carried out in such a way to protect the environment, animal health and welfare and public health. This is known as Cross-Compliance.
There are two elements to Cross-Compliance which are Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) and Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs).
Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition
In order to receive direct agricultural support you must ensure that you keep your land in Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition. This includes all land that you farm, even land on which you do not claim direct payments.
The following six GAEC measures are designed to ensure that land is farmed according to good agricultural practices that do not damage the environment.
- Soil Management
Prevent land from being severely trampled or poached. All cultivated land must have either crop cover, stubble cover, grass cover or be ploughed or disced over the following winter.
Do not carry out cultivations if water is standing on the surface or if the soil is waterlogged. - Supplementary Feeding
This is not permitted on semi-natural habitats (woodland, scrub, moorland, wetlands, species-rich grassland), archaeological sites or within ten metres from waterways.
Feeding sites should be rotated and managed to prevent excessive trampling, poaching or vehicle rutting to minimise soil erosion and to avoid run off to waterways. - Overgrazing
Avoid overgrazing grassland or semi-natural habitats with livestock in such numbers that would damage the growth, quality or species composition of vegetation. - Undergrazing
Avoid infestation by species that degrade the agricultural and environmental value of land, this includes Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed and the noxious weeds, dock, thistle, ragwort and wild oat. - Field Boundaries
Removal of field boundaries is not permitted except by prior written permission from Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD). This includes infilling or laying drainage pipes in open sheughs. Such requests should be made in writing to Countryside Management Branch offices.
Hedge cutting / coppicing or laying is not permitted during the bird nesting season between 1 March and 31 August. - Protection of Habitats (Wildlife Areas), Archaeological Sites and Permanent Pasture
Retain all semi-natural habitats, ponds, shelterbelts, trees protected under the Tree Preservation Order, archaeological features and earth science sites. Farmers must not undertake new drainage, ploughing, clearing, levelling, reseeding or cultivations on uncultivated land or semi-natural habitats without prior approval from DARD.
Heather and gorse burning is not permitted between 15 April and 31 August.
Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs)
To safeguard your Single Farm Payment you must also comply with 19 European Regulations known as Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs) covering the environment, food safety, animal and plant health and animal welfare.
There are five environmental SMRs:
- Conservation of Wild Birds
- Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Flora and Fauna
- Protection of Groundwater against Pollution
- Protection of the Environment and in particular of the Soil, when Sewage Sludge is used in Agriculture
- Protection of Waters against Nitrate Pollution.
Failure to meet the GAEC measures and SMRs outlined above could lead to the reduction, or in extreme cases the withholding, of your direct agricultural support. Further information on Cross-Compliance will be available from the DARD exhibit at the Winter Fair on 15 December 2005 in the King's Hall, Belfast. If you are not attending the fair, contact Countryside Management Branch at your local DARD office for more details.