Greening guidance for 2016 has now been published

[Great In Grass]

At this time of year, arable farmers across the country are making their cropping decisions for the 2016 harvest. To help, RPA have just published next year’s BPS ‘greening’ rules.

If farmers have 10 or more hectares of arable land, they need to do their greening calculations each year. That way, they can make sure they’re following the rules each year.

Click here to read the guidance online. There's also a printable version which you can save to your desktop or print if you prefer.

 

[colhonk]

Some good now,made plans and sown up.

 

[Kidds]

Could someone tell me what I have to put in the ground to call it Greening?
This year we just left some land that ended up full of docks, ragwort and thistles. That can't be right and I can't think all you lot would be doing that.
What can I put in the ground that will not just be a mess of weeds and can be cut down/ploughed in or mowed off at the end of the period?
We have plenty of unused land so it doesn't matter what it is to us, but we have no livestock to benefit from anything.

 

[Great In Grass]

Could someone tell me what I have to put in the ground to call it Greening?
This year we just left some land that ended up full of docks, ragwort and thistles. That can't be right and I can't think all you lot would be doing that.
What can I put in the ground that will not just be a mess of weeds and can be cut down/ploughed in or mowed off at the end of the period?
We have plenty of unused land so it doesn't matter what it is to us, but we have no livestock to benefit from anything.

As above you have a choice of cereals Rye,Barley & Oats plus Vetch, Phacelia, Mustard, Lucerne & Fodder Radish.

 

[Kidds]

As above you have a choice of cereals Rye,Barley & Oats plus Vetch, Phacelia, Mustard, Lucerne & Fodder Radish.

So if we sow winter barley and just let the bloke next door wholecrop it after beginning of July that counts for our greening area? (we don't grow cereals)
Sounds a whole lot better than the disgraceful mess we had last year.

 

[spin cycle]

bit farcical really you can sow a catch crop on 30th aug and grub it up 2nd oct.....you can't sow it with a view to grazing but outside those dates you can graze it

 

[Great In Grass]

So if we sow winter barley and just let the bloke next door wholecrop it after beginning of July that counts for our greening area? (we don't grow cereals)
Sounds a whole lot better than the disgraceful mess we had last year.

What it says in the booklet "Farmer’s EFA areas should not be sown with the intention of being used for harvesting or grazing." I suggest downloading the booklet and have a read it does explain things easily.

 

[Kidds]

What it says in the booklet "Farmer’s EFA areas should not be sown with the intention of being used for harvesting or grazing." I suggest downloading the booklet and have a read it does explain things easily.

Ok, done that now (I think)
I have to admit that thankfully I have nothing to do with sorting this stuff out on our place. Those that do told me there were certain patches of land that we could not mow off/top between 1 Jan- 30 June due to greening rules. From what I can make out having read various booklets on the matter that isn't true. There's no reason you can't mow off these patches as and when you see fit providing it isn't to harvest them and is after 15 Jan if it is being called something else until then.
I think I am right in saying these patches I refer to are known as fallow.

One simple question, these fallow patches as part of my greening requirement, can I go over them with the topper as much as I like between 15 Jan and 30-Jun? This would purely be to stop the docks, ragwort, thistles etc from seeding and to keep the place tidy.