CAP rules remain for 2019 despite looming Brexit

Following on from the UK government’s release last week of the “technical notices” on the ramifications of a no-deal Brexit – which revealed little that was new to the farming industry – the Scottish Government has now confirmed that the current CAP regulations will remain in force for 2019.

With the country’s farmers already putting into effect cropping plans for the first post-brexit harvest, a spokesman for the Scottish Government’s ruralpaymentsandinspection directorate (SGRPID) said that the current proposal was that for those claiming under the basic payment scheme (BPS), the rules applicable in previous years would remain in effect for the 2019 scheme year – including the three crop rule and other greening requirements.

He added that, despite flexibility being granted by the EU for the 2018 scheme due to the extreme weather conditions which saw an exceptionally dry summer follow a cold, wet spring, these derogations had been for one year only.

And despite discussions around the introduction flexibility into the rules and setting more appropriate

0 Farmers already planning for first post-brexit harvest

penalties being included in the Scottish Government’s recent “Stability and Simplicity” consultation paper, the current expectation was that farmers would still be required to adhere to the full EU regulations for the entirety of the 2019 season and until new legislation was introduced.

NFU Scotland combinable crops chairman Ian Sands said that the confirmation of full compliance had been expected and farmers had anticipated that the full greening rules would be reinstated for the 2019 scheme year.

However he said that the union continued to dispute the benefit of what he termed “these blunt greening measures” which he said were unnecessary in Scotland.

“Whilst stability is needed during the transition

period, NFU Scotland would like to see measures introduced post-brexit which are of genuine benefit and do not impose unnecessary and inflexible rules on Scottish farmers,” said Sands.

“The blunt tools of the EU’S greening rules do not fit to the profile of Scottish agriculture and therefore offer little by way of environmental gain but have added significant cost to many Scottish agricultural businesses and to Scottish Government in terms of inspections and compliance complexities.

“There exists a real opportunity for the Scottish Government to successfully deliver environmental objectives, but agricultural must be at the heart of all measures,” he concluded.