2 meter margin fine

[FarmerBruce]

Does anyone know what the fine would be if you just did away with the 2m margins? IF you got inspected!

 

[Brisel]

BPS penalties: Common cross compliance breaches | Burnetts Solicitors

Agribusiness lawyer Rachel Elliott outlines the most common cross compliance breaches for farmers to be aware of when claiming for BPS payments.

www.burnetts.co.uk

There will come a point when the risk of losing a % of your BPS payment is less than the cost of cross complying as the BPS decreases in future. To risk 20% of £90/acre which is £18/acre on the entire claim area as a minimum for a deliberate breach as opposed to just cutting the odd corner, you need to work out what you'd gain financially by actively farming that extra bit of land. The edge of the field is marginal in terms of profitability anyway so I would argue that you're not gaining much anyway by taking that bit of shaded, hedge root filled land back into production.

If you're found to have breached cross compliance in an routine inspection, you will be targeted for future inspections too as the statistical odds of failing again are very high. Inspections are risk based as well as a required % of claimants. Persistent offenders are very low hanging fruit for inspectors to make easy gains in justifying their existence.