Not cropping for bps

[Vader]

I have been topping some arable land for a neighbour for a couple of years now. He done nothing with it since harvest 2016.
He claims bps as fallow.
I thought this was meant to be after stubbles.
The land is now wall to wall grass weed and broadleaved weeds.
Can you claim bps fallow on that??

 

[milkloss]

I was interested so snipped this for you below. Out of curiosity, what do the economics of his management of fallow work out like?

 

[Steevo]

Yep, perfectly fine.

He must have reason to do so rather than let out and gain another £100 in rent per acre. Perhaps he doesn’t trust a tenant to look after it.....

 

[Vader]

How is wall to wall weeds including black and Rye grass keeping if fit for cultivation as rules above state?

Local spray man recons weeds that bad now it won't be possible to grow a profitable crop now for couple years due to chemical cost needed and yield loss due to grass weed burden.

 

[Steevo]

How is wall to wall weeds including black and Rye grass keeping if fit for cultivation as rules above state?

Local spray man recons weeds that bad now it won't be possible to grow a profitable crop now for couple years due to chemical cost needed and yield loss due to grass weed burden.

If it has been topped, then it could easily see a plough through it.

Whether the following crop is profitable is a whole different matter.

 

[Kidds]

How is wall to wall weeds including black and Rye grass keeping if fit for cultivation as rules above state?

Local spray man recons weeds that bad now it won't be possible to grow a profitable crop now for couple years due to chemical cost needed and yield loss due to grass weed burden.

There are other crops out there other than cereals

 

[Still Farming]

Greening???

 

[Vader]

Want to post picture big saying image to big

 

[DRC]

Want to post picture big saying image to big

With respect , I’d not be happy if my neighbour posted pics of my land, and it’s up to him what he does with it.
be prepared to see a lot more marginal land left in this way in the future. Maybe it’s in an environmental scheme.

 

[Steevo]

There's nothing stopping you from offering to rent it from him and cropping it yourself if you think you could make a good go of it whilst keeping the land in better order @Vader.

 

[farmerm]

I have something similar, its outlying from the rest of the holding, direction of the slopes make regardless which way you go it is a pain for cultivating and unpleasant spraying, its predominately north facing, its heavy clay and, poorly drained. There are no straight side only squiggles which allows for only 1 end to end tramp line at the widest point and then lots of awkward short bits. I am not even sure our contractors current combines can actually get too it. BPS covers topping it once a year and cutting the hedges. When wheat is consistently £200/t it can come back into production... for now it can sequester carbon. Grass weed burnden in following crops wouldn't really be worse than ploughing up any permanent pasture...

 

[Vader]

Was only going to post pic of weeds near wheel, do could not ID where it is.

It's in no scheme and it's not marginal land.

I was wanting to make sure he ok doing it this way to make sure he dont get fined or loose bps payment.
Old boy who won't use Advisors.
Was mates with my old man so don't want him getting in a mess with rpa

 

[Vader]

There's nothing stopping you from offering to rent it from him and cropping it yourself if you think you could make a good go of it whilst keeping the land in better order @Vader.

Tried as it's 4 ton land, just seems to not want to farm it at moment.

 

[Goweresque]

Yep, perfectly fine.

He must have reason to do so rather than let out and gain another £100 in rent per acre. Perhaps he doesn’t trust a tenant to look after it.....

You'd be daft to rent land out at the moment, with the whole future of agricultural subsidies in the UK up from grabs. You could easily find that the next few years become reference years for some new scheme entitlements, and by having a sitting tenant you've knackered your chances of getting hold of those as landowner. Thats how the changeover from IACS to SFP was managed, I think landowners won't want to get caught again like that if they can help it.

 

[Steevo]

You'd be daft to rent land out at the moment, with the whole future of agricultural subsidies in the UK up from grabs. You could easily find that the next few years become reference years for some new scheme entitlements, and by having a sitting tenant you've knackered your chances of getting hold of those as landowner. Thats how the changeover from IACS to SFP was managed, I think landowners won't want to get caught again like that if they can help it.

Agreed. The owner could always retain the land and allow a cropping licence or such.....a bit like the spud boys do I guess.

 

[Shughie McFee]

seems ok to me. cropping...will you get it planted, will you get it harvested in this bizarre climate ?. what you going to get...£90 /ton or £180 / ton ? .tractors £100k, combines £250k, and so on. BPS - whatever topping costs = known profit. tenants ? hmmmm, we've all seen the landlord / tenant angst on here.

 

[Still Farming]

Tried as it's 4 ton land, just seems to not want to farm it at moment.

Maybe fed up of pumping thousands in to get thousands out???

 

[Brisel]

I've got land that's been fallow for years in awkward wet or gravel corners. It gets topped once/year and qualifies for EFA fallow. Full of docks, thistles and couch grass. I spray the broad leafed weeds occasionally after the end of the fallow period but many have set seed by then.

As long as you can take it back into production within a year it qualifies for fallow. Whether or not it then carries a weed burden is another matter. Your neighbour has his reasons for doing this. I'd want ti to be very unproductive and fiddly to do this or put it into an environmental scheme. Topper farming was one of the fears when SPS was introduced and payments were decoupled from production but it never happened much. Modern economics don't really favour it but it very much depends on what your business setup is.

 

[Vader]

Cheers for all the replys.
Seems he is safe doing what he is doing.
I will just keep fingers crossed he will at least share farm or contract farm it some time soon.
Seems such a waste of good land.

 

[steveR]

With respect , I’d not be happy if my neighbour posted pics of my land, and it’s up to him what he does with it.
be prepared to see a lot more marginal land left in this way in the future. Maybe it’s in an environmental scheme.

Spot on. Seeing it already, including here on my place! Just enough to keep the BPS/CSS number right..