Tillage farmers will not receive a derogation from crop diversification requirements or the three-crop rule in 2024 the Department of Agriculture has told the Irish Farmers Journal. This is despite poor planting conditions this autumn.

Farmers who do not meet two- and three-crop requirements this year will have to plant catch crops after harvest.

Farmers will need to seek approval on this, but the area of catch crop required was not specified by the Department. Under normal equivalence rules it is 50% of the arable area.

This may cause issues for farmers in ACRES who have their land area taken up by catch crops and over-winter stubble. The Department told the Irish Farmers Journal that “catch crops must be planted before 15 September 2024 and kept in place until after 1 December 2024”.