Below is guidance provided by NFU senior BPS adviser Richard Wordsworth. To learn more about NFU activity in this area click here.
BPS: Wet weather and impact on compliance
Following the developing situation on flooding earlier this year, and after discussion with the RPA, it produced a very useful guide on a range of issues covering BPS, Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship, woodland grant schemes and wider issues such as cross compliance. Click here for the guidance. Please do read this alongside the individual scheme guidance.
One point from the document is especially important to consider:
Payments on flooded land
Please be aware that flooded agricultural land is still eligible for BPS, and may not affect land in a CS and/or ES agreement, if the flooding is temporary and the land would otherwise still be available for agricultural activity. But please refer to any agri-environmental agreement option requirements on the affected land and if you need to request a minor and temporary adjustment to those requirements.
When claiming on land for BPS, it needs to remain in agricultural use for the entire 12 months of 2019, but there are some exceptions for this for some minor non-agricultural activity, some of which are time limited. So it is best to look at the ‘Land’ section of the 2019 BPS handbook to make sure that your expected 2019 BPS payment is safe given any activity that has gone on since 15 May.
Greening
In recent weeks members have come to us saying they have struggled to establish BPS 2019 greening cover crop Ecological Focus Areas due to the wet weather. The greening rules (in the aforementioned BPS guidance) do state that there is the opportunity to nominate an alternative EFA option where there is a problem, but only if the farmer has a physical inspection. The NFU has asked the RPA if a farmer should be notifying it now if there is a problem with their cover crop. In response, we have been told that where cover crops have failed to establish by 1 October, a farmer can tell the RPA about it and the EFA areas/lengths they wish to use instead under the notified area provisions. (Remember there are differing EFA values for different options in order to get to the 5% EFA).
BPS 2020
Looking forward to the coming year, in the absence of any formal confirmation, the RPA and Defra are saying farmers need to assume that the BPS rules for 2020 will be largely the same as 2019. You therefore need to plan that for BPS 2020 there are going to be greening rules to adhere to.
As a greening recap, remember the rules around exemptions to greening, also what type of land triggers a greening requirement and whether the claim area for 2020 is going to change. In terms of the current wet weather situation and complying with greening rules, here are two elements to consider now:
Crop diversification
If you need to adhere to this rule, remember you need to have the correct percentages of two or three eligible crops present next year. Please refer to the aforementioned 2019 BPS handbook. In there is a section on crop diversification and what is considered an eligible crop that will count towards crop diversification rules. Without repeating all the rules, which of course you do need to read when the 2020 version of the guidance is published, remember that uncropped arable land, referred to as fallow can count as ‘a crop’ if it will not be cropped this autumn or next spring. Just remember that for crop diversification, in order for this fallow land to count as a crop it needs to follow the rules on management as well as be present (as defined) from 1 May to 30 June 2020. If you want to use the same fallow land as being used to count as an Ecological Focus Area, it needs to be kept as fallow (and complying with all the rules) from 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2020 inclusive.
If you are struggling to get all your crops established this autumn, but have land that can be drilled in the spring, remember that spring and winter varieties of the same eligible crop will count as separate crops under the crop diversification rules. There is no sowing date to determine a spring or a winter crop, but the different crops need to be there for the majority of the inspection period which is 1 May to 30 June 2020. It is worth now checking the varieties that are intended to be sown for harvest 2020 against the UK national list to see if they are considered winter or spring. Again, more details are in the BPS handbook.
Ecological Focus Areas (EFA)
If you need to have 5% EFA covered and are struggling then please look at the rules as they did change two years ago. This may help you this coming year. For example, the rules around buffer strips and field margins as well as hedges or trees in a line did change. Just one thing to watch out for when checking your EFA calculations is the double funding restrictions imposed if you accept a rollover of a HLS agreement that is coming to an end in 2020. More information can be found on this subject here.
BPS: Dry weather and impact on compliance
Looking ahead, it is important to be aware of the lessons learnt from previous years. The NFU has been leading work on the impact of dry weather on farmers being able to comply with BPS (greening and cross-compliance issues) and agri-environment schemes.
The RPA has now published guidance on how to deal with any difficulties arising from the hot and dry weather affecting BPS and CS/ES schemes. Click here to read the guidance
The NFU continues to work with the RPA, Natural England and Defra on the challenges faced by farmers due to the drought conditions being experienced.
Here, the NFU's senior BPS adviser, Richard Wordsworth provides an update on how the NFU has been working to establish scope with BPS, greening and cross compliance rules to help those impacted by this summer's agricultural drought.