FUW highlights concerns over exclusion of grazed woodland

THE Farmers' Union of Wales has written to newly-appointed EC Agricultural Commissioner Phil Hogan asking for rules which will exclude large tracts of land with trees on from eligibility under the new Basic Payment Scheme.

The Basic Payment Scheme will replace the current Single Payment Scheme in 2015 and, under Delegated Regulation 640/2014, land with trees at densities of 100 or more per hectare will not be eligible for payments.

"One hundred trees equates to an average spacing between trees of 10 metres or 33 feet," said FUW agricultural policy director Nick Fenwick.

"At that spacing land can not only be grazed by animals, it can also be cultivated - it is wide enough to drive three or four London buses side by side between trees.

"Under the current interpretation this means vast numbers of areas currently claimed as grazed woodland or eligible land containing ineligible features will be excluded from claims and have to be mapped as ineligible on the Land Parcel Identification System.


"The exclusion of such land from eligible areas makes no sense whatsoever," added Dr Fenwick.

The letter to Mr Hogan highlights the "severe and presumably unintended impact" the rule will have "...by rendering large areas of agriculturally viable land as ineligible for the Basic Payment Scheme".

It adds: "The impact...will be felt most acutely on those farms which are severely disadvantaged and/or have retained features such as ancient woodlands within field parcels...payments will be significantly reduced, as eligible areas - often already well below what they should be due to the use of projected rather than actual field areas - will be artificially reduced."

The letter also emphasises the huge additional burden the Regulation will place on administrations such as the Welsh Government, which already have their work cut out in dealing with the new CAP Regulations.

It states: "The requirement...represents a major additional bureaucratic burden for farmers and administrations alike, which goes wholesale against the Commission's stated commitment to a simplified Common Agricultural Policy at a time when all Member States are facing extreme financial pressures.

"Given the above, and the importance of agroforestry to rural economies, biodiversity, landscapes and carbon capture, we would urge you to do all you can to reverse a decision which will have a range of adverse and unintended consequences, particularly for our most disadvantaged farms," the letter adds.

Dr Fenwick said he had also alerted other organisations across the EU to the implications of the rule and was aware that similar concerns were widespread.


"We have had numerous discussions with Welsh Government officials regarding this issue and will be discussing it with Deputy Minister Rebecca Evans in the coming weeks," he said.

"In the meantime, it is essential that farmers abide by all rules relating to the felling of trees, as the consequences of breaching these could be even worse than the impact of the new Regulation."