When you first look at the overall structure of GLAS, it does not look simple. Here we have put together a step-by-step guide to working through the process.

Basically, the scheme is divided into three tiers. A farmer is ranked as Tier 1, 2 or 3, depending on the nature of the farm and his/her current farming enterprises. The tier into which a farmer falls will determine what measures he/she must take up in the scheme.

The three-tier structure for priority under GLAS does bring an additional dimension in the decisions farmers make. Some farmers with Tier 1 access are holding off in the knowledge they will get in under future tranches.

This is especially the case where they are still in AEOS. Tier 2 farmers also have that choice. All farmers that apply in tier 3 are all likely to get access in the first tranche. They can also opt to move into tier 2 by picking one of the four mandatory options.

A Department matrix has been developed to rank Tier 3 farmers based on the actions they do take. It could change what actions some farmers actually make and should be considered. Given that all farmers that apply will get in, it is unlikely to get much use this time round. It could come into play under the second tranche, but could change depending on the farmers who do get in this time around.

The Green Low Carbon Scheme (GLAS) closes for the first tranche of applications in just over three weeks’ time. Initially, the target was to get 30,000 farmers in before the 22 May deadline. This is not going to be achieved, but 20,000 applications could still be submitted.

Of the 21,000 who have registered on the Department of Agriculture online system, only 13,000 have submitted actions which would indicate they plan to go ahead.

The online GLAS system has only started accepting completed applications this week and will be the real yardstick as we get close to the deadline. The announcements that a second tranche is to open for up to 10,000 farmers in early autumn and that advisers now have until 31 August to submit commonage management plans do take the pressure off. However, advisers will still be under strain to handle all the farmers that want to go in now.

For individual farmers, the only target is to see if GLAS is right for your farm. Farmers will aim to select the most appropriate measures to maximise their payment up to €5,000. They must also take into account the overall impact these have on their farming system, as in some cases they will limit production. You must use an approved agricultural planner to prepare the GLAS application for you. The biggest challenge at this stage could be to actually get a planner if you have not already contacted one. If you have, make sure you keep your appointment.

Teagasc/FRS have already signalled that not all their clients that have indicated an interest can be facilitated. They have approached private planners in some areas to see if they can take farmers. Most are charging €450 in year one for submitting the initial plan and €450 for the nutrient management plan in year two. Some are waiving fees in subsequent years for existing clients.

However, some planners are starting to charge an initial consultation fee of €150. It is put towards the plan if the farmer decides to go ahead. The reason is the large numbers of farmers making the decision not to go ahead this time around. GLAS does not suit everyone. Also, some farmers want to split parcels in their 2015 Basic Payment Scheme application to allow them take more GLAS actions and maximise their payment under the application window later in the year.

Over the last few weeks, we have looked at all the different measures and where they might suit. They are listed in the table along with the payments, minimum, maximum and deadlines.

Every farmer is different

Every farmer looking at GLAS will be different. Commonage farmers have the least to do to join but must agree to the commonage management plan. Intensive dairy, beef or sheep farmers (identified as having whole farm stocking over 140kg livestock N/ha) and tillage farmers with more than 30ha of arable crops are targeted. They must pick at least one of the four mandatory options to get into the scheme. If they do, they will move to Tier 1 and be all but guaranteed access. However, farmers with lower stocking rates or less than 30ha of arable crops can chose one of these four actions to get into Tier 2 and increase their chances of access.

Four actions to boost your GLAS access

Wild bird cover

Wild Bird Cover attracts a payment of €900/ha for up to 3ha. Intensive livestock farmers using this measure under Tier 1 or Tier 2 must sow at least 1ha. Other farmers picking it as a general action must sow just 0.25ha on their farm. The high payment per hectare is making it attractive, but there are establishment costs. It is a spring-sown crop that is left harvested over winter to provide food for farmland birds.

Minimum tillage

Minimum tillage pays €40/ha per year. Larger tillage farmers with over 30ha of arable crops must sow at least 10ha in this way, with a minimum of 4ha for other farmers that want to use it as a general action. There is no maximum so it could add up if a lot of large areas are submitted. It will certainly be an easy option for farmers already using the system of not ploughing their land. To qualify, they must pick a full LPIS parcel and stick with it for the entire time they are in GLAS. As the action must be in place on the next crop, farmers could plough the fields in which they are planting crops this spring.

Low-emission slurry spreading

This could be another easy option for livestock farmers once they have access to the necessary machinery. They get €1.20/m3/year, which works out at about €6 or €7 per livestock unit. They also get the benefits that band spreading, Injection or trailing shoe bring to increasing utilisation of nutrients. Some farmers will look to contractors who already spread their slurry to see if they will upgrade. It can only be presumed that they will charge more for the service. All of the slurry applied on the farm, produced and imported, must be spread by one of the three methods.

Catch crops

Catch crops pay €155/ha/year and are established after a sown crop to absorb nutrients and prevent leaching in autumn-winter. The action is only applicable on LPIS parcels declared as arable in 2015. Catch crops can be rotated on different LPIS parcels each year of the contract but must not go under the initial contracted areas. The parcels must be identified in the annual Basic Payment Scheme application. Farmers have to establish the catch crop by the 15 September following approval either by broadcasting or drilling. The minimum area as a priority action is 10ha and 4ha as a general action. The maximum area paid is 32ha or just under €5,000 if used to maximise payment. This area can be rotated from one year to the next. Ploughing is not permitted but light cultivation such as shallow grubbing is to establish.

Looking at the 20 general actions available, stone walls and watercourses can provide a good boost if you have them on the farm. After that, low-input permanent pasture and traditional hay meadows are seen as the two big-money options for many farmers under GLAS. They pay €314/ha and €315/ha respectively. This allows farmers draw down over €3,100 if they push up to the maximum of 10ha allowed for the combined area under one or both actions.

For many farmers, the major benefit is that the actual cost of picking them is low. This leaves more of the payments to flow back in as income. However, farmers have to think carefully first. They have to look at their existing swards, the impact of lower production and the cost of the restrictions under the measures in their overall farming system.

Another thing to remember is that farmers who apply for a nitrates derogation in any year of the GLAS contract will be ineligible for both actions. What’s worse is that there will be clawbacks of any payments under the two actions made. So you have to look at if you want to expand stock numbers in the next five years as well

Traditional hay meadows

You must obviously be able to mow the parcel for hay with a tractor. After that, the sward cannot be more than 50% ryegrass. The meadow must also contain a minimum of three grass species such as cocksfoot, timothy, bent grasses, fescues, sweet vernal, Yorkshire fog, and they must be widely dispersed throughout the parcel.

Grazing cannot take place from 15 April until the meadow is mown annually, which must be after the 1 July. You can’t top the pasture from 15 March until after the meadow is mown each year. Rushes have to controlled by weed wiping and/or by spot spraying. This can be done after 15 March and when the meadow is mown. Topping can be used to control rushes but not between 15 March and when the meadow is mown. The maximum chemical nitrogen usage is 40kg N/ha per annum. This is just over one bag of CAN. You are allowed make silage in wet weather, but if this happens you must turn it twice so the hay rake will still be used.

The one thing to think about is the quality and quantity of feed you need for the winter. Hay cut after 1 July from the low ryegrass meadows will tend to be low quality. The money you get for this measure can quickly be used up in the need to buy extra feed, especially if you plan to save most of your winter forage from the parcels.

Low-input permanent pasture

You will need old pasture that must not have been reseeded in the last eight years. As well as that, the pasture must contain a minimum of four grass species excluding ryegrasses (for traditional hay meadows the minimum is three). So you have to get to know grasses such as cocksfoot, timothy, bent grasses, fescues, sweet vernal, Yorkshire fog and others. There also must be a minimum of three other non-grass plant species such as plantain, chickweed and clover. These varieties must be reasonably dispersed throughout the field and there must be less than 30% Ryegrass cover in total. So you can see how production will be limited.

You must have livestock as the sward must be maintained by grazing. You are not allowed cut the parcel for either hay or silage and it cannot be topped between 15 May and 15 July each year.

The two actions might seem to be close but in GLAS there will be no cross-compensation allowed between low-input permanent pasture and traditional hay meadows. So if a farmer commits to deliver 5ha of low input permanent pasture and 5ha of traditional hay meadow, they must deliver 5ha of each. They cannot deliver 6ha of low-input permanent pasture and 4ha of traditional hay meadow.

Advisers report a big interest the bird, bee and bat boxes and bee habitat. The reason is that where farmers find themselves below the €5,000 maximum, they can get another €315 a year if they pick the maximum number of boxes and another €90 for two bee habitats.

Farmers can make up the boxes for bees, bats and birds themselves. The Department gives examples, including measurements, in the appendix of the GLAS specification online. Just as there was under REPS and AEOS, there will be plenty of options to buy through co-ops or online.

One offer is a bundle which includes 15 bat boxes, 15 bird boxes and five bee boxes for €315, including delivery. This is the payment farmers would get under all the box measures in the first year. It would allow the farmer to keep the remaining four-year payments for themselves. The focus is to ensure the habitat is changed to boost their populations.

Bat boxes: The payment for each bat box is €13 and the maximum number any farmer can install is 15. This could add €195 a year to your overall payment. They are put up in groups of three boxes on either a tree, post or farm building. The three boxes in each location must face in different directions.

Bird boxes: Installing bird boxes pays €6/box/year and farmers can install up to 15 under the scheme. Unlike bat boxes, you can only place one bird box per tree or post or on the external wall of a farm building. Boxes can be made from wood or woodcrete and must be draught-free. Bird boxes should be placed at least 2.5m off the ground. Entrance of the box must face north or northeast.

Bee actions: There are two actions in looking after solitary bees. The first is boxes, with farmers getting paid €6/box/year for up to five boxes. The second is sand, for which the payment is €45/year for up to two locations. Farmers can do one or both options but the bee habitats cannot be placed side by side.

If you have land that is in the designated area for hen harriers, breeding waders, choughs, corncrakes, geese/swans, grey partridge, hen harriers and twite, you must do the relevant action . It does, however, get you priority access to Tier 1 and if you have adequate hectares, it could get you an additional €2,000 under GLAS+ in some areas.

Most payments range from €364/ha to €375/ha. The payment for geese and swans is lower at €205/ha. If you chose the option of winter cover for twite, the payment is €900/ha, the same as wild bird cover. As you have to establish margin along fields for the grey partridge, the payment is €2.10/m/year. The minimum on a farm is 200m. The other option paid this way is the improved grass field management option for the twite, which is paid at €1.50/m/year.

Looking at the hedges

While many farmers could find areas to plant another new hedge under GLAS, the limit of 200 metres even at €5/metre/year is not as attractive when costs, labour and fencing are deducted.

More farmers are looking closely at coppicing or rejuvenating overgrown hedgerows to increase biodiversity and enhance the visual landscape. It is paid at a lower rate of €2.20/metre/year but, as you can do 1,000 meters and there is less work involved, there is potential for more money.

You must have control of both sides of the hedgerow being coppiced for ongoing maintenance. Hedges can only be coppiced between 1 September and 28 February annually and you must have coppiced all selected hedgerows by 28 February 2017. You must coppice at least 10 metres in any one place.

You simply cut the stems to less than 15cm from the ground with a chainsaw or circular saw. You then infill the gaps that will not be filled in by regrowth. Plant a minimum of four plants per metre consisting of whitethorn, blackthorn or holly in line with the existing hedge. Species that are suitable for coppicing include alder, blackthorn, ash, birch, hawthorn, hazel, holly, sweet chestnut, sycamore and willow.

New hedges payment: €5/m/year maximum 200 metres.

Coppicing: €2.20/m/year maximum 1,000 metres.

Arable margins

Tillage farmers will see arable grass margin as one of the easiest ways to boost payments under GLAS. It takes out the unproductive headlands although they still have to be maintained. Tillage farmers have the option of leaving a 3-metre, 4-metre or 6-metre grass margin along the full length of the LPIS parcel or field boundary. A farmer gets 35c, 50c or 70c for picking a 3-metre, 4-metre or 6-metre margins respectively, although there are lower limits in length the wider you go.

The margins have to be in place for all crops that will be harvested in 2016 so, start with winter crops this autumn. Where the margin is established along a watercourse, an additional 2-metre unsown (with an arable crop) and unfertilised margin must be in place between the watercourse and the arable grass margin.

The grass seed sown must contain at least 60% cocksfoot or timothy. Grass seed labels and receipts should be kept for the duration of the GLAS contract. The margin is left uncultivated and must be mulched, mown or grazed at least once per year, but not between 1 March and 15 August. You can make silage or hay. Fertiliser or lime cannot be applied to the margin. Pesticides cannot be applied to the margin except for the spot treatment of noxious and/or invasive weeds.

Grass margin maximum payment per year:

3-metre: 35c/m/yr. 7,000m

4-metre: 50c/m/yr. 5,000m

6-metre: 70c/m/yr. 3,500m

Stone walls

Farmers with dry stone walls will obviously choose the option to maintain them. It pays 70c/metre for up to 4,000 metres. External stone walls that front on to a public roadway, private laneway or waterbody where the farmer has control over both sides of the wall for maintenance are paid at 70c/metre. Otherwise you get half rate. Internal wall lengths can only be counted once and must be maintained on both sides. Walls with scrub on or against them are not eligible for payment.

Stone walls: 70c/metre/year maximum 4,000 metres.

Watercourses – Excluding bovines and riparian zones

Most farmers with watercourses are looking at the option of maintaining stock-proof fences to a minimum of 1.5 metres from the top of the bank. As most farmers have already fenced them under REPS, the €1.50/metre per year being paid is just to maintain. The fencing must be stock-proof, fit for purpose and be undertaken with permanent stakes. Livestock drinking points are not permitted, so an alternative water supply must be provided for livestock. Riparian zones are another option for farmers with watercourses on their farms. When it comes to riparian margins, the wider you go the more you get paid. Up to €3.60/metre/year will be paid on the maximum 30-metre buffer zone created. The drawback is that area has to be fenced and cannot be grazed. The margin must be mulched or mown at least once per year but not between March and 15 August each year. You can take off what you mow. Fertilisers cannot be applied. Watercourses have to be marked on the maps and some that qualified for payment under REPS are not eligible under GLAS.

Groves

Groves of trees must be planted in one location with a minimum area of 0.05ha with 250 plants and maximum area of 0.09ha with 450 plants. Some farmers are using this measure to square off unproductive corners in fields. A minimum of two native species must be used and plants must be a minimum of 40cm tall. You get paid 90c/whip per year, and the real benefit is the square corner as much as the money. Grass and other competing vegetation must be controlled around the trees, until they have become established. Trees must be protected from livestock and fenced off from the time of planting until the end of the contract

Payment: 90c/whip/year for a maximum of 450 whips.

Double funding issues

Farmers are not allowed to be paid twice for the same area under different schemes. This is especially true for organic farmers. They gain priority access to Tier 1 but must chose if they want the area-based payment or organic payment on parcels they chose. Linear action on the parcels are alright. Where catch crops are used for equivalence under the crop diversification measure the payment is reduced by around €30/ha to €125/ha but farmers must also have catch crops on all their tillage parcels for the GLAS contract to comply. Tillage farmers have to be aware of the double funding implications where actions selected under GLAS are also submitted as ecological focus areas. If a tillage farmer is well above the 5% EFA requirement, he can opt not to submit options such as wild bird cover or tillage margins as EFA. The Department has not said how much the cuts to GLAS payments could be, but it is believed they could be significant.