Greening devil is in the detail
Therefore, definitive information about some aspects of the scheme has been slow to emerge. The DAFM has committed to publish a greening handbook in the coming weeks, which will provide more detail.
Hopefully, greening is now in the vocabulary of all tillage growers, who should be aware of how to fulfil the criteria, well before the spring cropping season. Despite some information that the scheme, or aspects of the scheme, will be suspended for 2015, the DAFM is adamant that the scheme must be implemented in full.
The basic working of the scheme can be found on either the DAFM website or at www.teagasc.ie/crops/greening/ Â on the Teagasc website. Information on issues such as exemptions, greening trigger areas and crop ratios, etc, can be found on both websites.
Spring cereal farmers need to think carefully about the greening requirements, especially if over 10 hectares (25ac) of one crop, such as spring barley, is grown. Calculations should be completed well before crops are sown, as ploughing out crops to make the farm compliant is costly and extremely unpalatable.
The DAFM has opened an online system, which will help farmers to assess their compliance for greening based on the 2014 application. To access this system, you have to register for the service at agfood.ie on the Department’s agriculture.gov.ie website.
The registration process is painless and will allow full access to all previous applications, correspondence, and greening requirements, etc.
Once registered for the online system, you can use the crop diversification calculator to assess if you are compliant (or not) for 2015. The system will also give you an estimate for the Greening Ecological Focus Areas (EFA), based on your 2014 area. The software system attempts to map all hedges, drains, etc, and calculate the total EFA on your 2014 application. It is of critical importance that all maps are checked to make sure all the information is correct. Incorrect information on the maps may lead to penalties.
If you are registered for the online system, you can adjust/correct these maps online. These corrections must be completed online, as the DAFM is not accepting paper corrections.
There was some confusion as to the definition of a hedge, and what is classified as a hedge. The DAFM is coming close to a definition, and it is likely to be very inclusive, so that almost all hedges can be used in full. Areas such as grassy banks with no hedge (where the hedge has been flailed back to the top of the bank) will not qualify as a hedge in 2015.
Fallow is a viable option for growers where they need to increase the EFA area and/or where they need another crop for crop diversification. Fallow is an uncropped area in 2015, but this area must have been an arable parcel in the past, either in a tillage crop or temporary grassland for less than four years.
The core period for fallow is from January 1, 2015, to July 31, 2015. Fallow can be left bare, or sown to grass or wildflowers in this core period.
Green cover can also be used to make up EFA areas. Every three hectares of green cover is equivalent to 1ha of EFAs. It is likely that the cover will require two crops (for example, oats and rape), and must be established before October 1 and remain in place until December 1 (similar rules to GLAS are likely to apply).
To avail of the equivalence measure (thereby removing the crop diversification requirement), when in the GLAS scheme, it is likely that at least 25% of the tillage area must be in green cover.
