info@akcagric.co.uk | 01380 724 687
Basic Payment Scheme Update
Basic Payment Scheme Update
Post date
December 2017
2017 Basic Payment Scheme payments underway:
The RPA are on target to pay 90% of claimants in December (63% paid as at 7th December)
Letters/emails will be sent from late December to those claimants who are unlikely to receive payment in December
Claim statements will be released in batches
Please let AKC know when you have been paid and provide a copy of the claim statement so that your payment can be checked. We do not receive copies of the statements or notification when payment has been made.
2018 Greening Changes:
These changes come into effect from 1st January 2018 and will impact MOST farms
- A complete ban on the use of Plant Protection Products on ALL Ecological Focus Area fallow land, catch and cover crops and nitrogen fixing crops (this includes seed treatments, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, desiccants and growth regulators)
Be aware that there are no exceptions for noxious weeds so prevents blackgrass control on any EFA fallow land 1st January to 30th June
If you are using nitrogen fixing crops then no PPP’s can be used during the life cycle of the crop
If you are using land within an agri-environment agreement as EFA fallow these rules still apply i.e. wild bird mix etc must not have any PPP’s applied 1st January to 30th June
Inspectors will use visual checks and look at spray records for demonstration that you have not used PPP’s during the required period
- EFA hedges can now include trees in a line from 2018 (a single row of trees). As with hedges there must be a minimum length of 20 metres (measured canopy edge to canopy edge) with a minimum of three trees. There are no additional management requirements aside from cross compliance
- EFA catch crops have been extended and now must be maintained for a minimum of 8 weeks starting 20 August retained until 14 October
- The EFA buffer strip option (1 metre adjacent to a watercourse) has been expanded to now include field margins – 1 metre uncultivated margin with green cover around the perimeter of the field, against the parcel boundary. This option forms part of the cross-compliance requirement and must be in place for the whole calendar year i.e. from 1st January 2018
Please ensure that you are compliant from 1st January 2018. If you have any queries or would like some assistance with checking your greening calculations please get in touch with your usual contact at AKC.
Changes to Mapping:
Over recent months the RPA have reviewed and updated all mapping information using aerial photography and Ordnance Survey maps. This has been titled ‘Proactive Land Change Detection’. The RPA are required by the European Commission to ensure that all digital mapping information from which they operate CAP schemes is no more than three years old. This task is now complete and all farms are required to check their revised maps online on the Rural Payments service. The RPA must be notified of any changes which you do not agree with using an RLE1 form.
In order that this does not impact your 2018 application we suggest checking maps as soon as possible. We plan to begin checking clients maps in January therefore please contact us should you wish to discuss this further.
Cross Compliance Reminder:
The RPA continue to take a hard line on inspections. The main areas where we are seeing problems is livestock record keeping and nitrate vulnerable zone compliance. Farms must ensure they have records of the following:
Livestock manure N Limit
Nutrient planning for each field and each crop type
Records of organic and non-organic fertiliser applications
Crop N max calculations
Updated risk maps showing locations of temporary field heaps
