Further Greening Rules for Wales

The Welsh Government has published further information on how the Greening measures will work in Wales.  The latest booklet – ‘Your Guide to the Greening Rules in Wales’ will be sent out to farmers shortly, and provides greater detail on the practical application of the Crop Diversification and Ecological Focus Areas (EFA) rules.  The sections below concentrate on the areas where new information is available.  The document is available on the Welsh Government website at http://wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/farmingandcountryside/farming/schemes/basic-payment-scheme/guide-to-greening-rules-wales/?lang=en

Crop Diversification – Evidence

Where a producer is required to undertake crop diversification (two or three crops) they will need to be able to provide evidence that they have done this.  The Guidance states that this will include seed labels and invoices or other evidence of cropping.  It doesn’t say or whether this evidence will have to be sent in or just available if an inspection takes place.  Strangely, there isn’t any mention of when these crops need to be in the ground to qualify.

Crop Diversification – Separate Crops

Spring and winter varieties will be counted as separate crops under the Crop Diversification rules.  It has now been confirmed this will be done based on the variety and not on the date when the crop is sown.  This means if you plant a winter variety in the spring it will still be counted as a winter crop.  The list of crops will be the same as that used in England – The National List published annually by the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) and the Processors and Growers Research Organisation’s (PGRO) Recommended  List (see last Bulletin for more details).  The most common crops such as winter wheat, winter barley, winter OSR, spring barley, spring wheat and spring OSR are all separate crops.  Temporary grass is also a separate crop under crop diversification (permanent pasture is not). 

Crop Diversification – Mixed Crops

The booklet includes guidance on how to treat mixed crops for the purposes of crop diversification.  In the case of undersown crops, it is the main crop that is counted for that area.  Where there is a seed mixture sown, this is counted as a single crop.  If two different seed mixtures are sown it is possible to count them as two separate crops as long as it can be shown that the species in each of them are different and they do not fall under the definition of temporary grassland.  Where two or more crops are grown at the same time but in distinct rows, it is possible to count each crop as separate as long as it covers at least 25% of that area.  Crops which are split into two different areas in a field are not mixed crops.

Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs)

Farmers who are required to put 5% of their arable land in EFAs can choose from a number of measures.  To recap, the table below shows the measures available in Wales and the conversion and weighting factor for each EFA.  The sections below contain further information on the management rules for each EFA:

EFAs – Fallow

The fallow period for EFA purposes in Wales will be for a minimum continuous period of 6 months from the 1^st February to the 31^st July in the scheme year.  No crop can be planted on the land during this period (i.e. you couldn’t start to establish the following crop, or put in a grass ley before the 31^st July).  However, wild bird seed cover and nectar mixes will be allowed to be planted on fallow land. 

It is possible to use temporary grass as fallow land under EFA.  However, in line with the overall fallow rules no grazing or crop production (including presumably hay and silage production) is allowed during the fallow period and it cannot be sown during the fallow period. 

The minimum area of fallow will be 0.01 Ha and the minimum width 2m.

EFAs – Nitrogen Fixing Crops

The guidance notes gives a list of the crops that are eligible under this measure the main ones being peas, beans, lucerne, clover and lupins.  These can be planted as a single crop or a mixture of nitrogen-fixing crops but the mixture cannot include non nitrogen-fixing crops on the same area, i.e. clover with grass.  It must be sited on arable land and be sown by 15^th May and remain for 14 weeks after sowing or until 1^st August whichever is the later.  The crops can be sold or for the farmer’s own use. 

EFAs – Hedges

The new Welsh guidance clarifies how hedges will be treated under the EFA rules.  To be eligible as an EFA the hedge must be on or adjacent to arable land and must be at the farmer’s disposal.  They are classed as being adjacent to arable land where the longest edge is ‘physically’ touching arable land.  Where there is a feature ineligible for BPS between the hedge and arable land, the land cannot count as an EFA.  This is the case if a ditch or ineligible track is between the arable area and the hedge.  The 1m cross compliance margin is classed as arable land.

With regards to being at the farmer’s disposal, where a hedge forms the boundary between two fields belonging to separate farmers, they will be classed as having half of the hedge at their disposal (for BPS the boundary will run along the centre of the hedge).  The EFA will be split equally to the land for each farmer – i.e. 1m length of hedge will be worth 5m² of EFA for each farmer.  There has also been a question over where a hedge falls between an arable field and a permanent pasture field, where both fields belong to the same farmer; in this instance the whole hedge counts for EFA purposes.

The hedge must have a minimum continuous length of 20m; a gap in the canopy, including a gateway will end the continuous length.  The maximum width is 10m, anything over that is not a hedge.  There is no minimum width.  New planting for creation or restoration is not eligible unless it has grown enough to meet the minimum specifications (i.e.no gaps in the canopy).

EFAs – Traditional Stone Walls

Similar to hedges, stone walls must be on or adjacent to arable land.  Where the wall forms the boundary between two different farmers the EFA is halved.  But the guidance is silent on situations where the farmer has the wall between an arable parcel and a permanent pasture parcel.  Presumably, following the hedge logic, this will be fully eligible for EFA.  The wall must have a continuous length of 20m any gaps including gateways ends the continuous length. 

Walls must be a minimum of 1m high and a maximum of 4m wide.  They must be dry stone walls made of either slate or stone; anything built with cement will not be eligible.  Pembrokeshire Clawdd walls, which have a dry stone outer with a compacted earth or earth/rubble core are specifically included.  Where there is a stone wall with a hedge on top, the stone wall is the eligible EFA feature.

EFAs – Short Rotation Coppice

This can be sited on any agricultural land on the holding – not just arable land.  Eligible species are Alder, Silver Birch, European Ash, Sweet Chestnut, Willow, Poplar, Lime and Sycamore.  The maximum period between harvests is 20 years.  No inorganic fertilisers are allowed, although it is possible to apply, manure, mushroom compost, treated sewage sludge and compost.  No sprays can be applied except for spot treatments within the first two years of planting for invasive non-native species or injurious weeds.  No minimum area is specified in the guidance.

EFAs – Forested Land

Any agricultural land which was put down to forestry under the following schemes and received the Single Payment in 2008 can be used to count towards the holdings EFA requirement:

• Woodland Grant Scheme (WGS 3)
• Farm Woodland Premium Scheme (FWPS)
• Better Woodland for Wales (BWW)
• Improved Land Premium (ILP)
• Glastir Woodland Creation (GWC)
• Glastir Woodland Creation Premium (GWCP)

EFA Administration

Hedges, traditional stone walls and short rotation coppice must be marked on a map and registered using a Field Maintenance Form (FM4) by the end of October 2014.  These will be used to calculate the existing EFA for the holding.  This must be done by all claimants with arable land, even if they think they are exempt from Greening due to one of the exemptions.  A guide on how to register EFAs is including on the website (see link above).

Other Points

Some other points were included in the guidance;

• All producers in Wales who have any arable land must register their existing EFA features whether or not they requireEFAs in to meet the Greening rules
• The remaining EFA features; fallow land, nitrogen-fixing crops and forested land under certain RD schemes will need to be recorded on the 2015 SAF.
• Cross-Border farms need to meet the greening rules at a holding level.  This means all land farmed in the UK will be treated as one.  The 5% EFA requirement will be calculated on the whole holding area, but all of your EFA features could be located in, say, Wales.  However, remember there are different EFAs available across the UK and you can only use those that are eligible in that country to count towards your requirement.  Similarly if you require three crops under the crop diversification rules you could have just two crops in England but your third crop could be in Wales.
• The booklet states that the interaction between EFA features and Glastir is still to be decided.  Decisions will be published in Gwlad.