• Crop diversification

  • Permanent grassland

  • Ecological Focus Area (EFA)

    • It is important to note that the greening obligations apply to all hectares on a farmer’s holding, not just to those eligible hectares used to draw down payment. For example, if a farmer holds 80 hectares but only 50 entitlements, greening must be observed on all 80 hectares.

    There are a number of scenarios where a holding or part of it may be considered as ‘green by definition’ and there is no further obligation to implement the three greening standard measures. Some of the most significant are;

  • Land that is subject to organic farming practices automatically fulfils all greening requirements.

    However such exemption only applies to that part of the holding which is farmed organically.

  • Holdings where more than 75% of the eligible agricultural area is permanent grassland or is used for the production of grasses or other herbaceous forage have no further obligation to implement the three greening measures, provided the remaining arable area does not exceed 30 hectares.

  • Holdings which fall within the scope of the ‘Directive on Conservation of Natural Habitats and of

    Wild fauna and flora’ and by the ‘Directive on Conservation of Wild Birds’ are entitled to receive

    the greening payment but must implement the three greening measures to the extent that those

    measures are compatible with these Directives.

    • All relevant exemptions are listed under each of the greening measures below.

    Calculation of Greening Payment

    Thirty percent of our annual national ceiling will be applied to greening. In 2015 this provides a fund of €364,500,900.00.

    The greening payment will be calculated as an annual fixed percentage of the value of the entitlements activated by the farmer under the Basic Payment Scheme. The same percentage will be applied to all farmers in each year.

    Crop Diversification

    Crop diversification is designed to encourage a diversity of crops on holdings which have arable land. There is no ‘crop diversification’ requirement where a farmer holds less than ten hectares of arable land. Where a farmer holds between ten and thirty hectares of arable land, he is obliged to grow at least two crops of which the primary crop shall not cover more than 75% of the arable land of the holding. Where a farmer holds more than thirty hectares of arable land, he is obliged to grow at least three crops of which the main crop shall not cover more than 75% of the arable land while the two main crops together shall not cover more than 95% of the arable land. These thresholds are summarised in the following table.

    Exemptions to Crop Diversification

    Farmers will be exempted from crop diversification in the following circumstances;

  • 1. Where more than 75% of the arable land of a holding is used for the production of grasses or

    other herbaceous forage or arable land laying fallow, or a combination of these, provided the

    remaining arable area does not exceed 30 hectares

  • 2. Where more than 75% of the eligible land of the holding is permanent grassland, used for

    production of grasses or other herbaceous forage or a combination of these, provided the arable

    area not covered by these uses does not exceed 30 hectares

  • 3. Where more than 50% of the areas under arable land was not declared by the farmer in his aid application of the previous year and where all arable land is being cultivated with a different crop

    compared to that of the previous year

  • 4. Land that is subject to organic farming practices automatically fulfils all greening requirements. However such exemption only applies to that part of the holding which is farmed organically.

    • Definition of Crop

    In addition to the standard crops, the definition of crop includes ‘arable land laying fallow’ and temporary ‘grasses or other herbaceous forage’. Winter crop and spring crop are considered as distinct crops.

    Each hectare of arable land can only be taken into account once in each scheme year for the purposes of calculating the shares of different crops.

    Permanent Grassland

    Permanent grassland is defined as land that has not been included in the crop-rotation of a holding for five years or more. The obligation to maintain ‘permanent grassland’ is managed primarily at national level. Ireland must ensure that the ratio of permanent grassland to total agricultural area shall be maintained and that this ratio shall not decrease by more than 5% compared with 2012.

    While there is no obligation imposed at the level of individual holding, if a decrease in the ratio of more than 5% occurs, individual farmers will be obliged to reconvert land back to permanent grassland.

    Land that is converted to forestry is exempted and does not have any impact on the calculation of the ratio of permanent grassland to the total agricultural area.

    Member States are obliged to designate areas of environmentally sensitive permanent grassland covered by the ‘Directive on Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild fauna and flora’ and by the ‘Directive on Conservation of Wild Birds’ including permanent grassland in peat and wetlands situated in such areas. Permanent grassland in such designated lands shall not be converted nor ploughed by farmers. Such environmentally sensitive permanent grassland areas will be designated in due course.

    Ecological Focus Area (EFA)

    Farmers whose holdings include more than 15 hectares of arable land must ensure that at least 5% of that arable land is allocated to Ecological Focus Area. This percentage will be reviewed in 2017 at which time it may increase to 7%.

    Land that is considered as Ecological Focus Area may include any one or more of the following;

  • Arable land laying fallow

  • Terraces

  • Landscape features (hedges with a width of up to 10 metres, ponds of up to a maximum of 0.1

    hectare, ditches with a maximum width of 6 metres including open watercourses for the purpose of

    irrigation or drainage, trees in line or in group, field margins, traditional stone walls)

  • Buffer strips (including buffer strips along watercourses under the Nitrates regulation).

  • Strips of eligible hectares along forest edges

  • Areas of short rotation coppice with no use of mineral fertiliser and/or plant protection products

  • Land covered by agro-forestry

  • Areas with catch crops, or green cover, established by the planting and germination of seeds using a mixture of crop species or by under-sowing grass in the main crop. (Winter crops sown in the Autumn for the purpose of harvesting or grazing are not considered as catch crops/green cover for the purpose of Ecological Focus Area.)

  • Areas with nitrogen fixing crops (if not used for the purposes of Crop Diversification)

    • Ecological Focus Area must be located on the arable area with the exception of landscape features and buffer strips which may be adjacent to the arable land. Ireland will apply a conversion matrix which allocates a fixed area to specific features and a weighting matrix which takes account of the environmental value of such features, e.g. a tree would be given a fixed area in square meters. (See table of Conversion and Weighting factors on page 28)

    Exemptions to Ecological Focus Area

    The following are exempted from applying Ecological Focus Area;

  • Holdings where more than 75% of the eligible agricultural area is permanent grassland or is used for the production of grasses or other herbaceous forage, provided the remaining arable area does not exceed 30 hectares.

  • Holdings where more than 75% of the arable land is used for production of grass or other herbaceous forage, is arable land laying fallow, is cultivated with leguminous crops, or a combination of these uses, provided the remaining arable area does not exceed 30 hectares.

  • Land that is subject to organic farming practices automatically fulfils all greening requirements.

    However such exemption only applies to that part of the holding which is farmed organically.