Green scheme axe is welcome
To simplify the Basic Payment Scheme in England and cut red tape faced by farmers, the government plans to remove the greening requirements with effect from the 2021 scheme year.
The greening rules were originally introduced to protect permanent grassland, prevent monoculture cropping and create additional habitat. However, they have since proved to deliver little additional environmental benefit.
Abolishing the crop diversification rule will be welcomed by farmers with smaller areas of land who may grow fewer crops each year, but still have a wide rotation when the range of crops grown across successive seasons is taken into account.
The rule also created some practical issues. For example, many farms didn’t have enough separate grain stores to cope with three different crops, so, if the smallest required area of the third crop was grown, the cost of production could be uneconomic, especially if external contractors were used and needed to visit the farm just for that crop.
Now that the greening rules are to be axed, there is an opportunity for farmers to reconsider their participation in Countryside Stewardship and begin working on plans to use their EFA features within a CS agreement ready for when the application window opens in 2021.
Andrew Wraith is director and national head of food and farming at Savills
