DEFRA arrangements for set-aside and the ten month rule in 2006

Defra today announced farmers' set-aside obligation and a revision to the 10 month rule that will apply for the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) in England in 2006.

Set-aside

For the 2006 scheme year, farmers will be required to set-aside the same amount of land that they were obliged to in 2005.

Once the data on 2005 SPS applications are fully verified, farmers will be allocated a fixed number of entitlements including, where appropriate, a number of set-aside entitlements. The number of those set-aside entitlements, subject to any transfers that may take place, will determine the amount of land that farmers' are required to set-aside for 2007 and future scheme years. Once fully validated data is available in the next few months, if any adjustments are necessary, Defra will ensure that these are announced to farmers as early as possible.

10-month rule

The window within which farmers may set the start date for their 10-month period(s) will remain as 1 October and 30 April.

However, on their 2006 application forms, farmers will, if they wish, now be able to designate two different start dates for different parcels of land on their holding rather than just one date for their entire holding. Both dates must fall between 1 October 2005 and 30 April 2006. This may be of particular help to those farmers who lease land at different times during the year.

For those who do not specify a start date, RPA will default to 1 February 2006 for all land on the holding.

Sustainable Food and Farming Minister, Lord Bach said:

"I am only able to act on the basis of the provisional data currently available, and have therefore decided that there should be no change to farmers' set-aside obligation for 2006. Once we have fully validated data available in the next few months, if there is any scope for reduction in the set-aside rates, I will ensure that this is fully explored immediately and that any announcement is made as quickly as possible."

"Turning to the 10 month rule, Ministers have listened to what farmers have said about arrangements in 2005 and are anxious to ensure that we take every available opportunity to minimise the remaining restrictions and bureaucracy that farmers face. I am pleased, therefore, to be able to provide farmers with the additional flexibility to choose two start dates under the 10-month rule.

"One of the benefits of the SPS is that it will, once bedded in, reduce the number and complexity of rules traditionally associated with CAP schemes."