Think before you rush in! FWAG view on set aside
Your opportunity to email FWAG with your views
Click on the pdf file at the bottom of this article for the Set-aside Decision Tree for Farmers.
Helping Farmers to decide on the future of their set-aside.
Set-aside is no more! In an uncharacteristically swift response to the shift from surplus to shortage the Commission has released 18 million hectares of European farmland back to cropping with the proposed rate of 0% for the 2008 cropping year.
However, in announcing this decision, Agriculture Minister Hilary Benn made it clear that he would be looking to the farming community to ensure that the effects on wildlife and biodiversity were minimised, given that Defra had decided not to tighten Cross Compliance measures to mitigate against the loss.
So, what can we do to ensure that we respond both to the market place and the environmental demands? The Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust have come up with an easy to use decision tree to help you chose the right management options.
Any land now not cropped is no longer set-aside; it becomes classified as "Eligible land not in agricultural production" and is subject to Cross Compliance rules specified in Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition ( GAEC) 12. Beware, these rules are slightly different to those which governed Set-aside!
If you have areas of fallow which were formally permanent set-aside consider retaining these; often such land was marginal and difficult to work and while higher grain prices may now make a gross margin feasible, the workability of such land will not be any better than it was previously. Similarly, field margin set-aside is located on the poorest yielding part of the field (margins typically yield less than half the mid field levels) and bring great benefits to wildlife and make management of LERAPS much easier.
If you have rotational fallow the decision tree will take you though your management options. The most important management change you can make is to delay until as late as possible the cultivation or spraying off of this land. While it is often perceived that pernicious weeds such as blackgrass need to be controlled as early as possible, this is actually a misconception; rapidly growing blackgrass presents a poor target for the sprayer in mid-April and the effects of the spray can be diluted as the weed goes through stem extension and onto flowering. Research has shown that viable seed is not set until early June, so delaying spraying until mid-May is both environmentally and agronomically advantageous, and probably fits better with the spring arable work schedule.
In helping farmers to make the right move on their farm the decision tree sets out the questions you may be asking yourself and hopefully the answers will aid your decision making progress. If you have uncertainties on land that may have a high biodiversity interest we would also recommend a visit by a FWAG or GCWT Farm Conservation Adviser to help you assess your set-aside land. You can find your local adviser by contacting www.fwag.org.uk and www.gct.org.uk
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