Basic Payment Scheme Update August 2014 August 2014 | Page 12

CROSS COMPLIANCE
As with SFP cross compliance will still be split into 2 categories:
1. Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs) that reflect EU legislation and have to be met.
2.  ood Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs) that are set by the EU framework, but each Member
G
State can choose their own requirements. These will be reduced from 17 to 11:

GAEC Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7a
7b
7c
7d
7e

GAEC Name
Establishment of buffer strips along water courses
Water Abstraction
Groundwater
Minimum soil cover
Minimum land management
Maintenance of soil organic matter level
Boundaries
Public Rights of Way
Trees
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)
Historic Monuments

The key changes are:
Under the SFP rules farmers cannot trim hedges until after the end of July. This is going to be extended until after
the end of August and will include trees (GAEC 7a and c). This has the potential to cause issues for trimming dead
and dying trees and dangerous trees from a Health and Safety perspective. It may also cause issues for tenants
where their agreement reserves out the timber to the Landlord. There will no doubt be separate issues to address
for orchard / soft fruit growers.
From 2015 there will no longer be a need to complete a Soil Protection Review (SPR). However, claimants will
still need to comply with the minimum standards of soil management. It will be interesting to see how this will
be monitored if paperwork isn’t in place. It may therefore be prudent to continue to keep your SPR up to date.

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