BPS 2021 - Temporary Grassland to Permanent Grassland and back again

Martyn

Member
Location
South west
Am about to try and do ours tomorrow online, for my first time. I have done CS for a couple of years no problem. I will just need to change feild crop codes but the acres will be the same as last year. Is this quiet straight forward?
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Am about to try and do ours tomorrow online, for my first time. I have done CS for a couple of years no problem. I will just need to change feild crop codes but the acres will be the same as last year. Is this quiet straight forward?

Yes. Go to Land and Update the crop codes before applying for BPS. It doesn’t matter if you start the claim and alter fields later.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Defo do the land use bit first then the rest of it takes about 5mins if you get that right first, especially with no Efa to worry about

What is REALLY easy, is when you get Luddites like me who like the feel of a proper form, do it all as hard copy. I went on an NFU event a couple of years ago and there were just 2 of us in the room who admitted to doing a paper submission... We were the ones with a big smile all afternoon. :)

As you say, with no EFA to fart around with, an absolute doddle now.
 

Martyn

Member
Location
South west
Yes. Go to Land and Update the crop codes before applying for BPS. It doesn’t matter if you start the claim and alter fields later.
Thankyou I've spent my afternoon altering cropping details, and updated. It then simply appeared on my bps claim form very straight forward. All submitted. Have used a agent historical but she is on maternity leave.
 
You need a diary with fertiliser detailed records for the fields you intend to cultivate and better still the whole farm showing land improvement for previous 5 years. You need invoices for 5 years for fert to back this up.
Take photos of the fields you intend to plough
 

delilah

Member
This.

We grow 3 year grass silage leys-ours for AD but others use as feed obviously. To stop any possibility of permanancy we classed them as AC100 ryegrass. This is an arable code and has been prepopulated as such in the subsequent year I first called all the leys that rather than TG. It may not be what the code is for(is it ryegrass for seed??) but I would challenge any inspector to tell me it is not a ryegrass ley. BTW the code does not stipulate purity or variety-just 'ryegrass'.

And this.

You need a diary with fertiliser detailed records for the fields you intend to cultivate and better still the whole farm showing land improvement for previous 5 years. You need invoices for 5 years for fert to back this up.
Take photos of the fields you intend to plough

Anything you can get onto an arable code, do it. Riches await.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
I'm using TFF as a welcome occasional distraction from my BPS forms this morning. My predecessor has entered the grass/legume field margins in mid tier stewardship as TG01, being the efficient chap he is.

What I do not trust is one department talking to another in the RPA, so I am removing all the TG01 codes in arable fields and replacing them with the majority use e.g. AC01 Spring Barley. I'd hate to be perfectly correct now then have those margins classed as permanent pasture or worse still, needing an EIA after 5 years which would probably exclude them from any future schemes.

I'm with @delilah on this. Keep arable codes if you can. IMO there will be plenty of ELMS incentives for buffer strips etc and that would easier on "arable" land.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
I'm using TFF as a welcome occasional distraction from my BPS forms this morning. My predecessor has entered the grass/legume field margins in mid tier stewardship as TG01, being the efficient chap he is.

What I do not trust is one department talking to another in the RPA, so I am removing all the TG01 codes in arable fields and replacing them with the majority use e.g. AC01 Spring Barley. I'd hate to be perfectly correct now then have those margins classed as permanent pasture or worse still, needing an EIA after 5 years which would probably exclude them from any future schemes.

I'm with @delilah on this. Keep arable codes if you can. IMO there will be plenty of ELMS incentives for buffer strips etc and that would easier on "arable" land.

I have been following the "lumping together" practive since we were allowed to. The only reason for separating them on the BPS was for ease of identification for HLS, but it makes no odds as far as I can tell...

What to call herbal leys is still a question I have not resolved in my own mind.
 
I'm using TFF as a welcome occasional distraction from my BPS forms this morning. My predecessor has entered the grass/legume field margins in mid tier stewardship as TG01, being the efficient chap he is.

What I do not trust is one department talking to another in the RPA, so I am removing all the TG01 codes in arable fields and replacing them with the majority use e.g. AC01 Spring Barley. I'd hate to be perfectly correct now then have those margins classed as permanent pasture or worse still, needing an EIA after 5 years which would probably exclude them from any future schemes.

I'm with @delilah on this. Keep arable codes if you can. IMO there will be plenty of ELMS incentives for buffer strips etc and that would easier on "arable" land.
Exactly my approach - but I amazed at the number of farmers who arent that bothered and even more amazed at the couple ive spoken to who are convinced 'something' will come to replace BPS like a white Knight riding towards them over the horizon - I dont believe in fairy tales!
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
I have been following the "lumping together" practive since we were allowed to. The only reason for separating them on the BPS was for ease of identification for HLS, but it makes no odds as far as I can tell...

What to call herbal leys is still a question I have not resolved in my own mind.

(y)

Use one of the Mixed crop codes e.g. AC59/60/61/62
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Exactly my approach - but I amazed at the number of farmers who arent that bothered and even more amazed at the couple ive spoken to who are convinced 'something' will come to replace BPS like a white Knight riding towards them over the horizon - I dont believe in fairy tales!

You mean..... that ELMS won't save the day???? :eek:

Well, I guess that past history since 1947, is that the White Knight will ride to the rescue of UK Ag plc. But I have NEVER seen BoJo as a White Knight....!!
 

ajcc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Exactly my approach - but I amazed at the number of farmers who arent that bothered and even more amazed at the couple ive spoken to who are convinced 'something' will come to replace BPS like a white Knight riding towards them over the horizon - I dont believe in fairy tales!
If folk don’t read TFF they will maybe not appreciate the problems that an enviro driven agenda is going to visit on agriculture. EIA has quietly been dug in as a “minefield “for all farmers to negotiate. So look hard for the snare, then look again!
 

MattR

Member
We're all cereals but I put about an acre down to grass in a corner of an arable field a couple years ago to let out to our neighbours for their ponies. Its been down as TG01 - I was wondering how we stood about this but if I read your remark correctly @bitwrx that
If one wants to plough up some permanent grassland, then as long as it has been cultivated at some time in the previous 15 years, there is no environmental impact assessment required
then I should be ok until 15 years after it was ploughed/drilled? (re. taking it back into the arable field when the times comes)
 

delilah

Member
then I should be ok until 15 years after it was ploughed/drilled? (re. taking it back into the arable field when the times comes)

Or just put a bird seed cover in for a year if you're looking at CS/ELMS.

Would strongly suggest do as Brisel says.
ELMS is the biggest incentive to go ploughing since WW2. Anyone who has studied the SFI options and worked out the implications will be dragging ploughs out of nettles and cracking on with getting as much land as they can under an arable code. Defra will wake up to this. I foresee a lawyers delight as farmers who think that they have met requirements to classify a field as arable are told that rules have been backdated/ amended.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.1%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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