An estimated 35,000 farmers on peaty soils must comply with new drainage rules from this year onwards or else face penalties on their direct payments, the Department of Agriculture has announced.

The Department warned farmers to “read carefully” the updated terms and conditions of the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) scheme which contain new GAEC 2 requirements for the protection of wetlands and peatlands.

It said that impacted farmers will be notified “in due course” of which parcels will be subject to the GAEC 2 rules. This notification will only happen after the European Commission gives approval to conditionality changes and no timeline for this communication has been set.

It is thought that between 540,000ha and 570,000ha of land will be designated as GAEC 2.

Drainage works on GAEC 2 lands – peaty soils – will only be permitted if “relevant national provisions” are followed “for example, seeking planning permission”.

Farmers must check agfood.ie to see if their lands are subject to GAEC 2 before getting works underway, the Department said. Existing drains may be maintained and it remains to be clarified if land reclamation works may proceed on GAEC 2 lands on which direct payments are claimed.

Currently, farmland drainage works covering over 15ha must be screened by the Department to see if an environmental impact assessment must be carried out.

Planned drainage works exceeding 50ha require a full environmental impact assessment as standard. These thresholds are currently under review and may change.

Ploughing deeper than 30cm will be banned on these parcels and grassland reseeding will only be allowed a maximum of one year in every four.

IFA president Francie Gorman criticised Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon for not securing an extension to the introduction of the changes, stating that bringing forward new rules contradicts Brussels’ plans to cut red tape.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that fines equal to 10% of Ireland’s entire BISS payments were threatened by the Commission if the new rules were delayed any longer.