Plans to reduce cross compliance inspections on farmers and scrap the two-crop rule for farmers on less than 30ha have passed a key hurdle in Brussels.

Agreement on the simplification of these CAP rules was reached between member states and the European Parliament.

Initially put forward by the Commission in May, the deal struck needs formal ratification by both groups before the proposals can take effect.

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The package proposes a scrapping of crop diversification requirements, commonly referred to as the two-crop rule, for those farming below 30ha.

It also seeks to limit the number of on-the-ground cross compliance inspections any one farmer receives in a single year to just one, where possible.

A relaxation of the conditions attached to drawing down TAMS III funds is proposed. This would allow farmers three years to avail of grant aid on investments needed to take their farms up to the standards set out in any new regulations, where the current window covers just two years.

It is planned that young farmers would have three years after taking over a farm to avail of this aid when investing in items that will bring their holdings up to cross compliance scratch.

However, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon moved early this year to dampen expectations around another element of the package proposed, in which member states would be allowed to pay top ups to farmers who incur costs in abiding by GAEC 2 peatland drainage rules.

The updates proposed by the Commission only cater for countries whose GAEC 2 rules go beyond the standards set down in national law, which Ireland’s do not, the minister said.

No lump sums

Furthermore, a proposal included in the package much-hyped by the European Commission that would allow member states grant lump sums of up to €50,000 to smaller farmers for ‘business development’. This was said by the Department of Agriculture to be inapplicable to Ireland, as it concerns a CAP funding mechanism not included in Ireland’s CAP strategic plan.

The European Commission’s efforts to relax rules under the CAP for farmers began after it pledged to reset relations with farmers in light of the widespread EU tractor protests at the end of 2023 into 2024.

Small farmers, defined by Brussels as those farming less than 10ha (25ac) and which make up a majority of the EU’s farms, have been the focus of much of the simplification efforts since.