Information exchange for REPS (Rural Environment Protection Scheme) Planners (Republic of Ireland)

[<patminnock AT eircom.net>]

Hi all,
I forwarded a list of queries to Dept. on REPS 3 and received the enclosed 
reply. Just thought some of you might be interested / may be of benefit.

Regards

Pat Minnock

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• From: "Muldowney, John" <John.Muldowney AT agriculture.gov.ie>
• To: <patminnock AT eircom.net>
• Subject: FW: REPS 3 queries
• Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 17:40:56 +0100

Pat,

for your information.


Queries for Dept. Agric. & Food re REPS 3

E-mail to Reps Section - John Muldowney, Danny O'Brien and John Carthy.

I attended the REPS briefing session on Monday, 21st of June, in the Court
Hotel in Tullamore and while much information in relation to REPS 3 was
provided, by its nature and because of time constraints, all issues were not
or could not have been addressed.

I would appreciate if you could respond to the following queries / comments,
which come to mind after the day.

General :
a) At the start of year 4, REPS 3, must the planner sign off on the farmer's
REPS plan, that is, must he verify all details that the farmer has maintained
land and farmed to REPS spec.
b) If yes, this will be very difficult, particularly in relation to record
sheets as few farmers may have the relevant documentation held for three
years for us to inspect.

Yes you will be signing off the third year 1C form but you will be only
verifying year three undertakings as well as ensuring that the plan is still
applicable for the remaining two years of his contract.

Measure 1 :
c) To date my REPS farmer clients depend on me to provide specific fertiliser
recommendation per acre/per plot and, while this will be clearly set out in
REPS plans it is not in a manner this is readily interpretable by the
farmers. For example, kilograms of N and P per hectare are used, rather than
bags per acre and there is no mention of Potassium fertilisation.

The guidance for REPS was that farmer friendly interpretation of soil reports
was to be provided by the planner. All we are saying into the future is that
if the farmer feels he understands the recommendations he dosen't have to go
to the planner but must likely as you are aware the farmer will stay in
contact with the planner annually to ensure that he is still complying with
REPS. For example with the Area aid application, as simple as it is most
farmers get assistance from an agronimist to get assurancee that the
application is Ok!

Measure 3 :
d) Watercourses in REPS 1 and 2 did not require fencing in tillage situations
with no animals. Is this still the case in REPS 3?

This is still the situation in REPS 3.

Measure 4 :
e) Can habitat areas declared in measure 4 also be declared as Setaside for
Arable Area Aid?

No.

f) Can existing Setaside land, which has regenerated and is in existence as
permanent Setaside for years, be included as a habitat in this measure?
Weeds / wild grasses etc have regenerated at this stage and are unlikely to
be improved upon.

No.

g) If a habitat (e.g. 0.8 ha) is created outside a watercourse required to be
physically fenced off to satisfy measure 4, option 4A? (Particularly if
there are no animals on the farm.)

A farmer may choose to put an area of ground in to Option 4A along a
watercourse, and put one fence outside the total area. The area chosen for 4A
eg 0.8 ha must be in addition to any field margin area ie the 2.5 m stretch
along the watercourse.

h) Under option 4B - Broad-leaved planting - is this option satisfied by, in
addition to planting 75% of the trees in hedgerows, planting the balance 25%
in gerogues or in clumps in sections (in the open) of fields or must these be
planted as individual trees?

We have stated that 'a minimum of 25% must be planted in open fields in
groups or planted individually'. Once 25% of the trees are planted in open
fields, then the farmer has met the requirements. We would expect planners
and farmers to plant these in as many different places around the farm,
rather than putting them all in one clump in one field.

Measure 5 :
i) Repair of stone walls - Measure 5 option 5C - a farmer who has been in
REPS 1 and 2 and has continued to repair stone walls and satisfied his REPS 2
plan, can he now choose an option 5C to do further repair work on other
walls? Am I correct in estimating that as long as he maintains the walls
that have been improved, in order to satisfy this option, he now needs to
rebuild/improve a further 300 m of wall (20 hectares x 3 metres by five
years)?

Each new five year REPS contact is taken separately. This means that if he
meets the minimum basic requirements for Measure 5 (ie a min of 70m/ha
maintenance) in a new plan, Say he has 40 hectares with only stone walls; min
stonewall maintenance is 2800metres therefore he may elect to do an
additional 3m/ha/yr (300m) above the 2800m.

Measure 9 :
j) Am I correct in assuming that option 9B - environmental management of
Setaside - relates to the Setaside as declared on the Area Aid, and that the
only difference now is that organic or inorganic fertilisers cannot now be
applied to this section of the environmentally managed Setaside? Or is this
Setaside additional to the minimum required for Area Aid?

Yes it does relate to the Setaside as declared on the Area Aid. A farmer with
a large amount of existing Setaside will only have to follow the management
prescriptions on the area required for the option. On the other hand, a
farmer with no existing Setaside will have to create new setaside up to the
area required for the Option. The management requirements to be followed are
clearly set out in Option 9b. As previously no setaside is eligible for basic
rate REPS payment.
As the requirement here is generally above the min area aid setaside
requirement, the allocation of a fixed area in REPS will ensure that the
farmer dosen't have to change the declared area of setaside each year on his
1C form.

k) Does this now mean that farmers will get paid for Setaside, considering
that in REPS 1 and 2 Setaside areas were excluded from payment of REPS?

No, any existing or new setaside area created for 9B is not eligible for REPS
payment.

l) Is natural regeneration of Setaside, after harvest, acceptable to develop
this option or must sowing take place?

Natural regeneration is acceptable.

m) Under options 9C - Arable margins - is it sufficient to do the minimum in
relation to the extra width, or what is the maximum? Does this mean a
minimum of 74 metres per every hectare of Arable land? When calculating
this, is Setaside included as part of this Arable land, (for the purpose of
multiplying the area by 74 metres?)

The minimum margin of 1.5 m under measure 9 must be met in any case but the
wider margin may be just based on the requirements of Option 9C. At the min,
the requirement of Option 9C ie 74 metres is multiplied by the contract area
(max 20 hectares contract) which excludes the setaside area. The margins
cannot be put on the setaside area.
If the requirement of 74m * 20 fits on 14 hectares of arable land it is
aceptable as category one option. We estimated the 74 * 20 would not fit on
anything less than 14 hectares!
If the margin requirement is located on between 7 and 14 hectares it is
described as category two option.

n) Option 9C continued. Is it sufficient to choose this option on the minimum
74 metre of margins or must all tillage margins be three metres if this
option is chosen? If the minimum of 74 metres is acceptable, can this option
be confined to one or two plots, or must there be three metre margins in all
plots?

After the requirements of Option 9C are met, the remaining margins only have
to meet the minimum requirements of measure 9 which is 1.5 m margins.

o) 9A - greencover - if a tillage farmer has a minimum of 7 hectares in
Setaside and this is sown to grass and maintained, is this sufficient for
this option? Can / must this area be rotated around the farm? Is there a
restriction on the number of parcels that go to make up this 7 hectares?

No setaside cannot be used as the greencover crop, it is expected that the
greencover will be ploughed back into the soil in the spring. Grass crops are
not premitted as green cover in any case.
Yes green cover may be rotated around the farm to follow crop rotations
however the Dept must be notified as to where the greencover is located and
if a minimum of 14 hectares is selected at the start of contract it must be
maintained throughout the 5 year period of the REPS plan ie options cannot be
changed. The number of parcels doesn't matter but the area requirements must
be met but we don't want to see tiny parcels recommended.

Measure 11 :
p) If record sheets/fertiliser recommendations are not kept updated on an
annual basis, they become more difficult to assess. Is this a farmer or
planner issue?

It is the Farmer's responsibility to keep record sheets and to apply the
correct nutrients for the crops grown. The planner should inform the farmer
that he must abide by REPS fertiliser limits if he changes crop type from
what is stated in his plan.


Supplementary Measure 3 :
q) Is there any upper limit here on numbers of either cattle or draught
mares, as long as all other criteria are fulfilled.

No upper limits provided you are actively breed pure to the breeds as in the
requirements set out; its no good having draught mares unless they breed at
least every second year.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Pat Minnock



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