Greening

All farmers eligible under the Basic Payment Scheme receive a Greening Payment.

The Greening payment accounts for approximately 30% of the farmer’s total payment. It is a top-up of the BPS and amounts to approximately 44% of the total value of entitlements activated. The average greening payment is €100/ha.

Greening obligations

Under BPS/Greening, farmers must adhere to greening obligations. However, the vast majority of farmers will not have to make any changes to their current farming practices to meet greening obligations. In very broad terms, it is the arable sector that have obligations under greeting. Certain exemptions also apply to arable farmers but for those who do not qualify for an exemption one or all of the following three standard measures must be implemented.

Greening measures

Crop diversification
If a farmer has 10 or more hectares of arable land, he or she will be required to sow a number of different crops (2 or 3) unless they qualify for an exemption.

Ecological Focus Area (EFA)
If a farmer has more than 15 hectares of arable land he or she will need to declare at least 5% of Ecological Focus Area on their arable land – unless they qualify for an exemption.

Protection of permanent grassland
This measure is managed at national level and so no requirement will be placed on individual farmers. However, if the ratio of permanent grassland to agricultural land in Ireland falls by more than 5% farmers who have ploughed permanent grassland will have to reinstate it. This would also mean there would be restrictions on further ploughing.

Environmentally sensitive grassland
Under this measure, permanent pasture designated as Environmentally Sensitive must not be ploughed or converted. In Ireland, these are specific areas within the Natural 2000 designated sites.

Payment

The payment accounts for approximately 30% of the farmer’s total payment. The payment will be a top-up of the BPS and will amount to approximately 44% of the total value of entitlements activated. Activated entitlements are those for which you have declared an eligible hectare in your application.

Payment date

50% payment will issue from October 16th, with the remainder issuing from December 1st each year.

Inspections

Inspections will be performed in order to ensure compliance with the practices of: crop diversification; ecological focus areas; and protection of permanent pasture.

  • A minimum of 5% of applicants required to follow greening practices will be selected for inspections.
  • An additional 5% of applicants required to have Ecological Focus Areas (EFA) will be selected for inspection (This additional inspection rate will be required until such time as there is an EFA database in place).
  • It will be necessary to carry out additional inspections in the autumn where the applicant chooses to opt for green cover or catch crops to meet the crop diversification requirement.

Inspections will take place with up to 14 days notice.

Deductions for non-compliance

There are provisions for making deductions where an applicant is found to be non-compliant with some of all greening requirements.

Get full terms and conditions of the Scheme