Compliance scare overdone
First, there was the Agenda 2000 agreement, heralded as the end of the world, but it brought many farmers their most prosperous years ever.
More recently, the Mid Term Review brought out the doomsayers, but many farmers are looking forward to the Single Payment system which has resulted from the Review.
With little else on the horizon now, the pessimists are over-cooking the cross compliance system, which are the rules to be followed by farmers receiving the Single Payment.
Many farmers will be persecuted by officials, warned Fine Gael. But if farmers find the time and take the trouble to read the booklet being posted to them by the Department of Agriculture, they will find little to be scared of in this list of Cross-Compliance and Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions standards that must be met.
For example, it debunks one of the scare stories going the rounds among farmers, that they will need a new e600 nutrient management plan each year.
The booklet makes it clear that inspectors will look for nutrient management plans prepared “within the last five years”.
It’s a worthwhile booklet if it keeps even one more farmer in business, rather than be scared out by misinformation.
The Council of Ministers, including Ireland’s Joe Walsh, when endorsing the Single Payment regime, recognised that farmers in receipt of payments have important responsibilities towards the protection of the environment, animal health and welfare and public health. But the directives and regulations they have to follow are in place for many years. Farmers are generally familiar with them and are complying with them.
Only the Nitrates Directive is new, with Ireland’s action plan not even near agreement yet.
Otherwise, farmers must prevent soil erosion, probably of relevance here only on commonages, sand dunes, or pastures in danger of severe poaching.
Maintenance of soil organic matter levels is unlikely to cause any difficulty in Ireland.
Maintenance of soil structure comes naturally to farmers; land churned into mud is not of much use to them. In any case, exceptions may be granted under certain circumstances to these soil management requirements.
Land should be maintained in a state that permits agricultural production to continue - not too demanding a requirement.
Undergrazing of grassland must be avoided, if necessary by summer harvesting or topping (in a way that provides an escape route for wildlife).
To qualify for the Disadvantaged Areas Compensatory Allowance Scheme, applicants must still have at least 0.15 livestock units per hectare; there is no change there.
One of the new measures is that the area of land declared as grass on the 2003 Area Aid application and which was under grass for the previous four years, excluding setaside, cannot be reduced by more than 5% of Ireland’s agricultural area. If it is reduced by more than 5%, the occupier must obtain prior authorisation to grow tillage crops; if by more than 10%, the occupier must re-convert tillage land to permanent pasture.
As usual, landscape features must be retained, and the deterioration of habitats avoided. This includes protected archaeological sites and monuments.
The ban on burning or destruction of vegetation from March 1 to August 31 stays in place.
Walls, hedges or post and wire fences on land occupied by livestock, excluding commonage land and unenclosed land, must be maintained; no surprises there. Encroachment of unwanted vegetation to the extent that land cannot be used for agriculture must be avoided, unless as part of an approved environmental plan.
Appropriate measures must be adopted to minimise the spread of noxious weeds.
Nor is there any change in the rules for identification and registration of cattle, sheep and pigs; lost tags must be replaced, but that was always the case.
Farmers on Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation will already be familiar with the rules for conservation of wild birds, flora and fauna, overgrazing, turf extraction, altering watercourses, reclamation and re-seeding.
On all lands, hunters, rather than landowners, will be held responsible for observance of the Wild Life Act.
Rules for protection of groundwater from pollution by dangerous substances, or by landspreading of slurries, dirty waters and effluents, apply to all farmers. There are special rules for the few farmers who use sewage sludge which may contain pathogens and heavy metals that could harm human, animal and plant health.
Other than the unknown territory of the Nitrates Directive action plan, and the long-standing rule that lost livestock tags must be replaced, there seems to little scope for persecution of farmers in the cross-compliance system.
