Cross-compliance Breaches

The RPA has released its cross -compliance statistics for 2013. The number of failures has increased by more than 50% since the previous year; 2,972 compared to 1,947 in 2012.  The most common breaches have occurred in the same places as seen previously SMR 7 (Cattle ID and Registration) still sees the highest failure rate at 810.  Although this is higher than last year it is significantly better than the level of failure seen in 2011.  According to the RPA, SMR7 breaches were mainly for cattle keepers failing to report deaths or movements and for animals without passports.

EU rules tasked the RPA with undertaking extra inspections in areas of poor performance.  These were SMR4 (NVZs) and GAEC 1 (Soil Protection Review).   Huge increases were seen in the number of failures in 2013, with an additional 711 breaches in these two areas.   Many farms were failing to keep up to date and accurate records, leaving temporary field heaps for longer than 12 months (or too close to a watercourse) and many had simply not completed the Soil Protection Review.

The table below compares some of the main areas of non-compliance found in 2013 compared to 2012.  The breaches have cost farmers £2.33 million. The full statistics will be available shortly.

Source: RPA