NFU wins set aside extension to cut field fire risk

The Rural Payments Agency has today agreed an extension to set-aside cutting after an appeal by the NFU.

Rules governing set-aside land have been relaxed to help stop field fires.

As a rule, farmers are required to cut the vegetation on their set-aside land between July 15 and August 15 and are not allowed to graze their animals on set aside land.

But at the height of harvest NFU members raised concerns sparks from cutting machinery could set vast swathes of tinder-dry countryside ablaze.

The RPA has agreed to extend cutting until August 31 where there is a genuine fire risk. Farmers need to contact the RPA. However hopes of having set-aside being used for additional grazing have been left hanging with no decision reached yet.

Combinable crops board chairman Arthur Hill said: “The extension to the cutting period until the end of August will give time for much-needed rainfall to green-up vegetation and reduce the risk of fire caused by sparks from mowers.

“This is an example of the close co-operation being developed with Defra on these combinable crops issues.”

The NFU is still hoping for a general derogation so farmers can graze livestock on set-aside fields where grass elsewhere has dried up. This has to be agreed at EU commission level.