While much of the 2014 harvest remains to be cut, decisions for the 2015 planting season must now begin. For many tillage farmers, these decisions will be more complicated than in previous years due to the introduction of greening as part of the payment obligation for the new CAP.
We have been discussing these requirements in recent weeks and most tillage farmers appear to be aware of the basics.
Some are beginning to look at the consequences of the changes, while others must begin to act on the changes now.
If you have more than 30ha of crops, you must comply with the greening requirements regardless of how much grassland an applicant has. So, for some mixed farmers, that action might be to drop the area sown to crops below 30ha, so as to avoid being caught in greening. For a mainly-grassland farmer, if you have less than 30ha of crops and if your grass area is more than 75% of the total area, you do not have to comply with greening requirements.
Take the farmer in the simple example in Table 1. This is a 95ha farm with 45ha of permanent pasture, 35ha of crops and 15ha of temporary grassland. This farmer will be obliged to have greening because the applicant has more than 30ha of tillage crops. Once the crop area is 30ha or more, other factors such as the percentage of grass to crop do not apply.
So, in scenario A in Table 1, the applicant has 36.8% crops because once you are in greening, crops means tillage crops plus temporary grassland. In this situation, the applicant needs three crops and must have 2.5ha of ecological focus areas (EFA) to go with it. If there is not 2.5ha in hedges or ditches, then it may be necessary to plant catch crops in front of spring crops or to plant a nitrogen fixing crop for EFA. In scenario A, the biggest of the three crops must be 37.5ha or less, while the smallest must be at least 2.5ha.
What if this grower was to opt to have a smaller area in tillage to get under the 30ha threshold for greening? In scenario B, I have reduced the crops area to 25ha and planted the other 10ha to temporary grass. Now, there is 70ha of grass and 25ha of tillage crops, but the percentage of grassland is only 73.7%, which is less than the 75% threshold to make one escape the greening requirements.
However, in scenario B, only two crops are required because the applicant has more than 10 but less than 30ha in tillage crops. And there are two crops if I assume the tillage is all winter barley (25ha) and the second crop is the temporary grassland (25ha).
The biggest crop is less than 75% of the cropped area. But because this applicant has more than 15ha in crops, the EFA obligation still applies on the area of crops plus temporary grass (50ha), so 2.5ha of EFA is needed – the same as scenario A.
Now, consider scenario C. In this instance, I have decreased the tillage area to 20ha and increased the temporary grassland to 30ha. But the percentage grassland in the total area claimed is 78.9%. This means that there is no greening obligation because the area in grass is more than 75% of the total 95ha claimed and the crop area is less than 30ha. So, there is no need for crop diversification even though the farmer technically has two crops. And because there is no greening obligation, there is also no requirement for EFA.
The bigger operators
Most tillage farmers will not have the option to opt out of greening by cutting their area in crops, so they must plan for at least two or three crops and to have 5% EFA. Many farms may have no need to change anything to comply with greening, while others may have to take action for both additional crops and for EFA.
It is generally deemed sensible to consider that a 7% EFA requirement will be applicable from 2017 onwards, so where alterations are being made for EFA compliance, this should be considered for the longer term.
Take an example of a 190ha mixed farm with 150ha in tillage crops, 30ha in temporary grassland and 10ha in permanent pasture. This applicant will need to fulfil both crop diversification and EFA. Indeed, 9ha of EFA will be required to meet the 5% EFA (5% of 150+30) requirement and this will be 12.6ha if the EFA obligation is increased to 7% from 2017.
There are at least two crops already on this farm – the area in crops and the temporary grassland. If the 150ha of tillage was devoted to a single crop, at least one additional crop would be required for crop diversification. But if the 150ha comprised 40% winter wheat, 20% feed barley, 20% oilseed rape and 20% oats, that farming system will satisfy all of the requirements of crop diversification.
Within the rules governing crop diversification, the biggest single crop cannot be more than 75% of the tillage area and the combined two biggest crops cannot be more than 95% of the total area in crops and temporary grass. In this farm example, the biggest single crop allowed is 135ha and the third and subsequent crops must be at least 9ha.
EFA planning
As the planting season begins, farmers can do their calculations on meeting the crop diversification requirements. For most, this means at least three crops but some single spring crop producers may opt to use the catch crop alternative over winter. It is not known what proportion of the farm area will have to be sown to a catch crop but it is likely that this will only apply to a proportion of the farm/crop area.
Analysing the EFA requirement is more difficult. The main problem for farmers is they have no idea how much EFA is on their farms through natural features. But they can estimate the EFA requirement by adding the total cropped area, plus the area in temporary grassland and calculating 5% of this area. That is the minimum you will need to have on your 2015 application.
You will have to work out with the Department of Agriculture the contribution from natural features such as hedges, ditches and woodland. Where this is insufficient, you will need to consider other options like nitrogen-fixing crops, protein crops, catch crops or planting hedges.
If you are a 100% winter-crop producer and you estimate that you may not have enough EFA, leave some land idle to give you the option of an area of protein crop in springtime.
While you will not be certain yet of what you need to do, the fewer hedges and ditches you have, the more likely you are to need alternative sown land uses to comply. Think about what may best suit you. If you have any specific queries, feel free to contact me.
Be definite about whether greening will apply to you in 2015. Some farmers may have the option to decrease their crop area to take them out of the greening net.Having more than 30ha of crops will mean that both crop diversification and EFA will apply.If you are uncertain about EFA, it is best to leave an appropriate amount of land unplanted in winter to allow a spring mitigation measure.
While much of the 2014 harvest remains to be cut, decisions for the 2015 planting season must now begin. For many tillage farmers, these decisions will be more complicated than in previous years due to the introduction of greening as part of the payment obligation for the new CAP.
We have been discussing these requirements in recent weeks and most tillage farmers appear to be aware of the basics.
Some are beginning to look at the consequences of the changes, while others must begin to act on the changes now.
If you have more than 30ha of crops, you must comply with the greening requirements regardless of how much grassland an applicant has. So, for some mixed farmers, that action might be to drop the area sown to crops below 30ha, so as to avoid being caught in greening. For a mainly-grassland farmer, if you have less than 30ha of crops and if your grass area is more than 75% of the total area, you do not have to comply with greening requirements.
Take the farmer in the simple example in Table 1. This is a 95ha farm with 45ha of permanent pasture, 35ha of crops and 15ha of temporary grassland. This farmer will be obliged to have greening because the applicant has more than 30ha of tillage crops. Once the crop area is 30ha or more, other factors such as the percentage of grass to crop do not apply.
So, in scenario A in Table 1, the applicant has 36.8% crops because once you are in greening, crops means tillage crops plus temporary grassland. In this situation, the applicant needs three crops and must have 2.5ha of ecological focus areas (EFA) to go with it. If there is not 2.5ha in hedges or ditches, then it may be necessary to plant catch crops in front of spring crops or to plant a nitrogen fixing crop for EFA. In scenario A, the biggest of the three crops must be 37.5ha or less, while the smallest must be at least 2.5ha.
What if this grower was to opt to have a smaller area in tillage to get under the 30ha threshold for greening? In scenario B, I have reduced the crops area to 25ha and planted the other 10ha to temporary grass. Now, there is 70ha of grass and 25ha of tillage crops, but the percentage of grassland is only 73.7%, which is less than the 75% threshold to make one escape the greening requirements.
However, in scenario B, only two crops are required because the applicant has more than 10 but less than 30ha in tillage crops. And there are two crops if I assume the tillage is all winter barley (25ha) and the second crop is the temporary grassland (25ha).
The biggest crop is less than 75% of the cropped area. But because this applicant has more than 15ha in crops, the EFA obligation still applies on the area of crops plus temporary grass (50ha), so 2.5ha of EFA is needed – the same as scenario A.
Now, consider scenario C. In this instance, I have decreased the tillage area to 20ha and increased the temporary grassland to 30ha. But the percentage grassland in the total area claimed is 78.9%. This means that there is no greening obligation because the area in grass is more than 75% of the total 95ha claimed and the crop area is less than 30ha. So, there is no need for crop diversification even though the farmer technically has two crops. And because there is no greening obligation, there is also no requirement for EFA.
The bigger operators
Most tillage farmers will not have the option to opt out of greening by cutting their area in crops, so they must plan for at least two or three crops and to have 5% EFA. Many farms may have no need to change anything to comply with greening, while others may have to take action for both additional crops and for EFA.
It is generally deemed sensible to consider that a 7% EFA requirement will be applicable from 2017 onwards, so where alterations are being made for EFA compliance, this should be considered for the longer term.
Take an example of a 190ha mixed farm with 150ha in tillage crops, 30ha in temporary grassland and 10ha in permanent pasture. This applicant will need to fulfil both crop diversification and EFA. Indeed, 9ha of EFA will be required to meet the 5% EFA (5% of 150+30) requirement and this will be 12.6ha if the EFA obligation is increased to 7% from 2017.
There are at least two crops already on this farm – the area in crops and the temporary grassland. If the 150ha of tillage was devoted to a single crop, at least one additional crop would be required for crop diversification. But if the 150ha comprised 40% winter wheat, 20% feed barley, 20% oilseed rape and 20% oats, that farming system will satisfy all of the requirements of crop diversification.
Within the rules governing crop diversification, the biggest single crop cannot be more than 75% of the tillage area and the combined two biggest crops cannot be more than 95% of the total area in crops and temporary grass. In this farm example, the biggest single crop allowed is 135ha and the third and subsequent crops must be at least 9ha.
EFA planning
As the planting season begins, farmers can do their calculations on meeting the crop diversification requirements. For most, this means at least three crops but some single spring crop producers may opt to use the catch crop alternative over winter. It is not known what proportion of the farm area will have to be sown to a catch crop but it is likely that this will only apply to a proportion of the farm/crop area.
Analysing the EFA requirement is more difficult. The main problem for farmers is they have no idea how much EFA is on their farms through natural features. But they can estimate the EFA requirement by adding the total cropped area, plus the area in temporary grassland and calculating 5% of this area. That is the minimum you will need to have on your 2015 application.
You will have to work out with the Department of Agriculture the contribution from natural features such as hedges, ditches and woodland. Where this is insufficient, you will need to consider other options like nitrogen-fixing crops, protein crops, catch crops or planting hedges.
If you are a 100% winter-crop producer and you estimate that you may not have enough EFA, leave some land idle to give you the option of an area of protein crop in springtime.
While you will not be certain yet of what you need to do, the fewer hedges and ditches you have, the more likely you are to need alternative sown land uses to comply. Think about what may best suit you. If you have any specific queries, feel free to contact me.
Be definite about whether greening will apply to you in 2015. Some farmers may have the option to decrease their crop area to take them out of the greening net.Having more than 30ha of crops will mean that both crop diversification and EFA will apply.If you are uncertain about EFA, it is best to leave an appropriate amount of land unplanted in winter to allow a spring mitigation measure. 
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