The Tir Mynydd (Wales) Regulations 2001

PART II— THE SCHEME

Qualifying claimants

3.—(1) Claimants shall be eligible for payments under the Tir Mynydd scheme if they:

(a) have submitted a valid area aid application that showed the existence of eligible land;

(b) have undertaken to continue farming at least six hectares of eligible land for five years from the date of the first Tir Mynydd payment; and

(c) have submitted a claim for livestock aid in relation to sheep or suckler cows or both during the year in which the Tir Mynydd claim is submitted; and

(d) apply usual good farming practices compatible with the need to safeguard the environment and maintain the countryside, in particular by sustainable farming.

(2) The eligible area is the forage land within the less favoured area as declared in the IACS area aid application for the scheme year,subject to the following provisions relating to land grazed by dairy cows.

(3) If, on the date of the Tir Mynydd claim, the claimant has available an individual reference quantity of milk, the area of eligible land is reduced in accordance with the provisions of this regulation.

(4) The reduction is calculated by reference to the number of animals in the notional dairy herd.

(5) The number of livestock units in the notional dairy herd is calculated by dividing the individual reference quantity of milk available to the claimant by 5730, being the number of litres of milk deemed to be equivalent to the annual production of one dairy cow.

(6) Such livestock units are firstly applied to that part of the holding that is not eligible land at the rate of one hectare for each two livestock units so calculated.

(7) The remaining livestock units not so applied are used to calculate the reduction in eligible land at the same rate, taking the reduction from disdvantaged land before severely disadvantaged land.

(8) In this regulation “notional dairy herd” means the total number of animals deemed to constitute the dairy herd on land farmed by the claimant in Wales as calculated above and “individual reference quantity of milk” has the same meaning as in Article 31 of Commission Regulation 2342/1999(1)).

Minimum stocking density

4.—(1) To qualify for Tir Mynydd payments the holding must have a minimum stocking density of 0.1 livestock units per hectare.

(2) Where a lower stock limit is required by environmental or nature conservation schemes in which the claimant is a participant, the lower limit will be allowed.

Maximum stocking density

5.—(1) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (2) below, there will be no prescribed maximum stocking density.

(2) A holding with stocking density of 1.8 livestock units per hectare or over shall be the subject of an inspection by or on behalf of the National Assembly during 2001 (or in the year in which that density is first exceeded) and at least every three years thereafter.

(3) If an inspection under paragraph (2) above produces evidence of overgrazing to the satisfaction of the National Assembly, the claimant will be required to enter into a management agreement with the National Assembly with a view to eliminating such overgrazing. The agreement must set out the timescale for the claimant to adjust stocking rates to remove the risk of overgrazing.

(4) Any claimant whose holding has been inspected (and that inspection has led to evidence of overgrazing) but who has not concluded a management agreement with the National Assembly or who has not complied with the terms of such a management agreement shall cease to be eligible for Tir Mynydd payments until the management scheme has been concluded or complied with as the case may be.

Calculation of area payments — element 1

6.—(1) A claimant who satisfies the conditions set out in regulations 3, 4 and 5 above shall be eligible for payment under element 1 of the scheme in accordance with the calculation contained in Part A of the Schedule to these Regulations.

(2) The basic calculation made in accordance with part A of the Schedule shall, where the eligible forage land exceeds 140 hectares, be subjected to the tapering mechanism set out in Part B of the Schedule .

(3) The calculation of element 1 of the area payment will also be subject to a safety net mechanism calculated in accordance with Part C of the Schedule.

Environmental enhancement under Element 2 of the Scheme

7.—(1) Claimants shall be entitled to an enhancement of the payment due to them in respect of Element 1 of the Tir Mynydd scheme if they qualify under one or more of the categories set out in regulation 8 below.

(2) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (4) below, any claimant who satisfies one of the categories shall be entitled to an enhancement of 10 per cent of the payment calculated under element 1.

(3) Subject to the provisions of paragraph (4) below, any claimant who satisfies two or more of the categories will be entitled to an enhancement of 20 per cent of the payment calculated under element 1.

(4) The National Assembly may adjust the enhancements due to claimants pursuant to this regulation if the total enhancements calculated to be payable under this regulation exceed five per cent of the total budget for the Tir Mynydd scheme for 2001 and 2002 and ten per cent for subsequent years. In that case the percentage enhancement will be reduced to such percentage as limits the total enhancements to five per cent of the total Tir Mynydd budget for 2001 and 2002 and ten per cent for subsequent years.

Categories that qualify for the environmental enhancement

8.  The categories that qualify for the enhancement referred to in regulation 7 above are the following:

(a) that the holding contains a ratio of at least one breeding cow for every 30 ewes in the less favoured area;

(b) that the farm is registered with the United Kingdom Register of Organic Food Standards (a body notified to the European Commission as a designated inspection authority) in relation to land not already the subject of an agreement under either the organic aids scheme or the organic farming scheme;

(c) that the farm has at least two per cent of the less favoured area land (but with a minimum of one hectare) under one or more of arable crops, root crops and field horticultural crops (excluding maize and grass ley) that is not land on which arable aid payments have been claimed;

(d) that the stocking density is no more than 1.2 livestock units per hectare;

(e) if the claimant is exercising grazing rights on a common registered under the Commons Registration Act 1965 (2)in the less favoured area, that the claimant, and all other graziers, at the same time remove all stock from that common land for a period of 3 months within the period September to February inclusive in any twelve month period;

(f) that at least two per cent of the less favoured area of the holding (but with a minimum of one hectare) is deciduous woodland that is fenced and managed so that access for grazing may be permitted that does not otherwise attract common agricultural policy support under the Farm Woodland Premium Scheme;

(g) that the farm is registered under an approved farm assurance scheme for beef or sheep or both that is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service.

(1)

O.J. No. L281, 04.11.99, p.30.

(2)

1965 c. 4.