The Department of Agriculture has put flesh on the bones of the proposed new GLAS scheme in recent days. It released the details of the 30 measures contained within the scheme.
The draft specifications have been given to the farm organisations, planners, Teagasc, etc, for feedback. Most of the details will be unchanged when the scheme is finally opened. The specifications spell out:
Payment rate for each measure.Minimum uptake if a measure is chosen, eg 10m of stonewall maintenance.Maximum uptake, eg 4,000m of stonewall maintenance.Technical guidance on how each measure must be carried out in the field. Examples are how many plants per metre, what species are allowed, fencing requirements and deadline for completion. Payment rate is expressed per linear metre (eg new hedge), per hectare (eg Commonage), per unit (rare breeds) or, in the sole case of low emission slurry spreading, per m3. Only when they this information has been collated can applicants and their planners begin to build a GLAS plan, selecting the measure or combination of measures which generate a high annual payment, while being suited to their farms.
If allowed free choice, many farmers would select one or two measures which generate a high payment rate, while causing minimal disruption to their current farming system. However, applicants are restricted:
Applicants who have one of the priority environmental assets/actions (PEA) must take up the measure relating to this. Other farmers will select specific measures purely to gain Tier 1 or Tier 2 priority status. Many measures have a maximum uptake figure. Some farmers argue that the best measures have low maximum uptake figures.There are five PEA options available. They are:
Farmland habitat (private natura land). Farmland birds (any of corncrake, hen harrier and six other species).Commonage.High status water area. We don’t know where these are yet. The Department of Agriculture is expected to produce maps in the next few weeks. Rare breeds. If any of these are present, the applicant must choose the related measure in the scheme.
The measure may itself generate a maximum annual payment of €5,000 or alternately, other measures may have to be added to the plan if the applicant wants to apply for the maximum annual payment. An upside is that these farmers are then Tier 1 in terms of priority entry into the scheme.
Chasing priority status
Some farmers who are keen to get into GLAS and fear the scheme will be over-subscribed will select measures which reward them with extra priority for admission.
For example, an intensive beef, sheep or dairy farmer or a farmer with more than 30ha of arable crops can gain Tier 1 status by selecting from a list of secondary environmental assets/actions. They are:
Low-emission slurry spreading.Minimum tillage.Green cover from a sown crop.Wild bird cover on grassland farms.Intensive in the above case means having a whole farm stocking rate exceeding 140kg livestock manure nitrogen.
Meanwhile, other (non-intensive) farmers may get themselves Tier 2 priority into the scheme by taking up one of the same secondary assets/actions.
Applicants whose lands include a vulnerable water area can get themselves Tier 2 priority by taking up measures relevant to vulnerable water areas.
Choosing measures
When looking to see what GLAS can offer, an applicant will first check which, if any, measures he or she must take up.
These could be any of the five PEAs, which, if relevant to a farm, are mandatory.
In other cases, a farmer who wants to earn Tier 1 or 2 priority status will select one of the PEAs or a secondary asset/action.
The applicant will then calculate how much annual payment the relevant measure will generate.
Some measures have no maximum uptake – other than the scheme’s overall annual payment ceiling of €5,000.
If the farmer has enough qualifying ground, etc, one of these measures could generate an annual payment of €5,000.
These measures include (see Table 1) arable grass margin, farm birds, commonage, farmland habitat (private natura), low-emission slurry spreading, minimum tillage, protection of monuments, protection of water courses from cattle and riparian margins.
So, for example, a farmer with 41ha of commonage would qualify for the maximum annual €5,000 without taking on any other measures.
In other cases, a farmer will have to select a number of measures to build the annual payment.
The table shown here will provide much of the information necessary to do so.
It also shows the payment rate and maximum uptake for each of the measures.
The Department of Agriculture has put flesh on the bones of the proposed new GLAS scheme in recent days. It released the details of the 30 measures contained within the scheme.
The draft specifications have been given to the farm organisations, planners, Teagasc, etc, for feedback. Most of the details will be unchanged when the scheme is finally opened. The specifications spell out:
Payment rate for each measure.Minimum uptake if a measure is chosen, eg 10m of stonewall maintenance.Maximum uptake, eg 4,000m of stonewall maintenance.Technical guidance on how each measure must be carried out in the field. Examples are how many plants per metre, what species are allowed, fencing requirements and deadline for completion. Payment rate is expressed per linear metre (eg new hedge), per hectare (eg Commonage), per unit (rare breeds) or, in the sole case of low emission slurry spreading, per m3. Only when they this information has been collated can applicants and their planners begin to build a GLAS plan, selecting the measure or combination of measures which generate a high annual payment, while being suited to their farms.
If allowed free choice, many farmers would select one or two measures which generate a high payment rate, while causing minimal disruption to their current farming system. However, applicants are restricted:
Applicants who have one of the priority environmental assets/actions (PEA) must take up the measure relating to this. Other farmers will select specific measures purely to gain Tier 1 or Tier 2 priority status. Many measures have a maximum uptake figure. Some farmers argue that the best measures have low maximum uptake figures.There are five PEA options available. They are:
Farmland habitat (private natura land). Farmland birds (any of corncrake, hen harrier and six other species).Commonage.High status water area. We don’t know where these are yet. The Department of Agriculture is expected to produce maps in the next few weeks. Rare breeds. If any of these are present, the applicant must choose the related measure in the scheme.
The measure may itself generate a maximum annual payment of €5,000 or alternately, other measures may have to be added to the plan if the applicant wants to apply for the maximum annual payment. An upside is that these farmers are then Tier 1 in terms of priority entry into the scheme.
Chasing priority status
Some farmers who are keen to get into GLAS and fear the scheme will be over-subscribed will select measures which reward them with extra priority for admission.
For example, an intensive beef, sheep or dairy farmer or a farmer with more than 30ha of arable crops can gain Tier 1 status by selecting from a list of secondary environmental assets/actions. They are:
Low-emission slurry spreading.Minimum tillage.Green cover from a sown crop.Wild bird cover on grassland farms.Intensive in the above case means having a whole farm stocking rate exceeding 140kg livestock manure nitrogen.
Meanwhile, other (non-intensive) farmers may get themselves Tier 2 priority into the scheme by taking up one of the same secondary assets/actions.
Applicants whose lands include a vulnerable water area can get themselves Tier 2 priority by taking up measures relevant to vulnerable water areas.
Choosing measures
When looking to see what GLAS can offer, an applicant will first check which, if any, measures he or she must take up.
These could be any of the five PEAs, which, if relevant to a farm, are mandatory.
In other cases, a farmer who wants to earn Tier 1 or 2 priority status will select one of the PEAs or a secondary asset/action.
The applicant will then calculate how much annual payment the relevant measure will generate.
Some measures have no maximum uptake – other than the scheme’s overall annual payment ceiling of €5,000.
If the farmer has enough qualifying ground, etc, one of these measures could generate an annual payment of €5,000.
These measures include (see Table 1) arable grass margin, farm birds, commonage, farmland habitat (private natura), low-emission slurry spreading, minimum tillage, protection of monuments, protection of water courses from cattle and riparian margins.
So, for example, a farmer with 41ha of commonage would qualify for the maximum annual €5,000 without taking on any other measures.
In other cases, a farmer will have to select a number of measures to build the annual payment.
The table shown here will provide much of the information necessary to do so.
It also shows the payment rate and maximum uptake for each of the measures.
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