Starting at the hedge when working out funding
Greening rules for farmers in England may be unchanged for the 2019 scheme year, but double-funding rules may have the potential to catch out some growers when planning their Ecological Focus Area.
Farmers are starting to turn their minds to their 2019 Basic Payment Scheme claim as the application deadline approaches on May 15.
The good news is that not much has changed for the 2019 scheme year, but farmers should always consider whether there has been a change in their own situation which means they will need to alter their approach from previous years.
Where farmers have subsequently joined the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, then they may be affected by double-funding rules, designed to avoid farmers being paid for carrying out the same activity on the same land parcel.
It used to be the case that some CSS options could be claimed as EFA and the payments would be adjusted accordingly to avoid double-funding, but this has changed so you can no longer overlap CSS options with what is claimed as an EFA. One exception is hedgerows which can be used both as an EFA and a CSS option [BE3] as there is no overlap in the management requirements.
Hedges remain a good starting point for farmers as they start the process of calculating how best to meet their EFA obligation. Hedges used as EFA must be located on, or within five metres of, arable land and of a continuous length of more than 20m.
In terms of weighting, each side of the hedge is worth five square metres per metre of hedge – so if a farmer is able to claim both sides of the hedge then 1,000m of hedge equates to 1 ha of EFA.
Hedges must be mapped online and the RPA should have pre-populated the information required, but this data will need close checking and an RLE1 form used if any changes are required.
Another useful option is EFA field margins, which are a one metre strip of uncultivated land adjacent to a bank, hedge, fence or road.
Significantly, the field margin strip can be located on the same area as the two metre cross-compliance protection zone, although there must be at least one metre of uncultivated land from the edge of the hedge throughout the year to be eligible.
Most farms should find it fairly straightforward to meet their EFA obligations using a balance of hedges, field margins and buffer strips, topping up any shortfall with a catch or cover crop.
James Turner, Strutt & Parker farm consultant
