Greening guidance

More details have been announced about how the new greening element of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will be implemented in Scotland.

Further guidance for Scottish farmers is now available from the Scottish Government website. It includes more details of management rules for Ecological Focus Area (EFA) buffer strips and Nitrogen Fixing Crops including:

• Cutting but not grazing will be permitted on EFA buffer strips.
• Nitrogen Fixing Crops will count as EFA if:
- there is no harvesting before August 1, in order to protect ground-nesting birds;
- they are surrounded by an EFA field margin where adjacent to the edge of a field;
- there are two different Nitrogen Fixing Crops on the EFA area, to extend the flowering period for pollinators, with the main crop covering no more than 75 per cent of the total area of Nitrogen Fixing Crop declared as EFA.

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said:

“The new CAP will be greener and we are all signed up to that – indeed, it was a European condition of this CAP budget. EU regulations and how we implement them in Scotland add complexity which will why we must strike a balance between greening the CAP and giving farmers options and flexibility to choose how to run their businesses.

“In June, following extensive consultation with farming and environmental organisations, I announced that Nitrogen Fixing Crops would count as EFA subject to management conditions that will benefit biodiversity whilst being compatible with crop production.

“Since that announcement there have been continued discussions with industry and environmental representatives about the management conditions that would apply if farmers choose this option to meet their greening requirements. Today I can confirm what those conditions are.

“Of course, there other ways for farmers to meet their greening requirements and the new guidance available on our website will give Scottish farmers some more information about the options available to them. However, it will not answer all farmers’ questions because we – like other administrations - are still lacking crucial clarity from Europe on a number of aspects.

“With greening accounting for about a third of the direct farm budget, it is imperative we get the implementation rules right to avoid the risk of farmers facing an unknown level of disallowance further down the line. That is why the Scottish Government is only publishing guidance that we are confident is correct, rather than our best guess.

“I recognise that Scottish farmers want and need certainty which is why I have raised directly with Europe’s Agriculture Commissioner the need for urgent clarification as well as a full health check of all aspects of implementing the new CAP part way through this CAP period.”