Under the 2006 Single Payment Scheme regulations all farmers must complete a Soil Protection Review in advance of the 1st September 2006 deadline. A Soil Protection Review (SPR) template must be completed by that date as part of the cross compliance standards (GAEC 1). The template has to be retained and made available for inspection and should be updated annually or sooner if necessary. A SPR is not required for common land unless the farmer is the sole occupier.
Tom Tyrwhitt-Drake of BCM Bays Curry McCowen commented: "Although these self completed Soil Protection Review are pretty straightforward, they do need to be completed as a part of the scheme for 2006. Furthermore, farmers who think they will wait until later in the year should be aware there have already been a number of cross compliance inspections in the area, and if one of these was carried out after 1st September 2006, applicants will not be fully cross complying if they had not completed a Soil Protection Review."
"Now that harvest is in full flow, these reviews may get sent very much to the bottom of the in tray. However, our advice is that farmers must fill them in in advance of the 1st September."
