Farming

Basic measures to ensure that no penalties ensue from Department

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ALL farmers must comply with the Cross Compliance regulations which includes public health, animal and plant health, animal welfare and environmental standards. Farmers must maintain all their land in GAEC (Good Agricultural & Environmental Condition). This means that all fields declared for SFP must be grazed, topped or cropped every year.

Some 1,350 farmers or 1% of Single Payment Scheme (SPS) applicants are inspected each year for all Cross Compliance requirements. In addition, 5% of farmers who have cattle, are inspected under Cattle Identification and Registration requirements, and 3% of farmers who have sheep are inspected.

Failure to comply with Cross Compliance or GAEC will lead to penalties being applied to all direct payments. Farm Inspections are taking place on an ongoing basis and the following tips are intended to help farmers identify some issues that may need to be addressed during the autumn and winter period. We would ask farmers to note the following five seasonal cross compliance tips:

• The face of the silage pit must be kept clean and a clean tidy feed face reduces the risk of run-off.  It’s surprising how large a volume of rainfall comes off silage pits but if concrete is regularly cleaned, the rainwater runoff will be regarded as clean water. Do not store waste silage or farmyard manure in the pit. Rain coming off silage plastic is clean.

When covering the pit, plastic must extend over channels. Rain coming off the plastic can then be directed to a clean water disposal system or watercourse. If collected with silage effluent, it adds unnecessarily to storage and disposal requirements.

Where the pit is opened at the high end, rain on the plastic is directed away from the feed face to the clean water system. This reduces the volume and also the dilution at the feed face end. It is also easier to strip the pit. Rain on self-feed silage areas, where animals stand, must be collected with their manure.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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