Fewer forage crops are set to be grazed over winter if new rules set out in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan are not clarified.Farmers who sow crops like forage rape and stubble turnips for livestock have been hit with news that a grass lie-back, the same area in size as the area planted with a forage crop, must be available to grazing livestock. Earlier this year it was not clear that the lie-back area needed to be grass.
Fewer forage crops are set to be grazed over winter if new rules set out in Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan are not clarified.
Farmers who sow crops like forage rape and stubble turnips for livestock have been hit with news that a grass lie-back, the same area in size as the area planted with a forage crop, must be available to grazing livestock. Earlier this year it was not clear that the lie-back area needed to be grass.
This rule comes under conditionality, formerly cross-compliance, which means that this is also the case for farmers planting catch crops in ACRES who wish to graze these crops after 1 January.
Farmers at the Tullamore Show informed the Irish Farmers Journal that they would no longer be able to grow catch crops for livestock due to this rule and could not ask tillage farmers to grow them for them either.
A grass crop can be planted beside the forage crop to provide the lie-back area, but this adds massively to the cost of growing the forage crop
Rules not clear
Some farmers may have planted forage crops for grazing back in April and May such as beet and kale and these rules, which fall under the Standards for Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition of Land, were not clear at ?that time. Many are now planting crops after cereals and even now are unaware of this rule.
The confusion comes at a time when the Government is aiming to increase tillage area and promote sustainable farming.
A grass crop can be planted beside the forage crop to provide the lie-back area, but this adds massively to the cost of growing the forage crop, and does not make sense financially on a specialist tillage farm. Farmers should also remember that a 3m buffer of volunteer cereals or grass must surround the entire field in which a catch crop is sown.
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