European Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development, Phil Hogan, has confirmed that he will agree to UK requests for EU rules on crop diversification to be relaxed following excessive rain that has delayed crop planting.

The decision follows requests from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland, the Scottish Government and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the UK, to exempt arable farmers in Northern Ireland and Scotland from the requirements for crop diversification under the greening provisions of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Requirements will also be eased for farmers in other parts of the UK.

“Whilst formal approval from the EU Commission for the derogation is now awaited, Commissioner Hogan’s announcement will help to allay some of the concerns expressed by our arable farmers and provide reassurance that, subject to them meeting all other greening requirements, their inability to meet crop-diversification requirements in 2018 will not impact on their greening payment," DAERA head of food and farming Norman Fulton said.

"We would advise that where cropping options to allow farmers to be compliant with crop diversification rules are not available due to adverse weather, growers can make crop choices that best suit their current situation, even if this leaves them non-compliant with the normal crop diversification rules."

The Republic of Ireland has had a derogation to the rule since early April.

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