The Common Agricultural Policy (Cross-Compliance) (Scotland) Regulations 2014

Minimum soil cover

4.—(1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2), where land has been cropped with any crop which has been harvested, a beneficiary must ensure that throughout the winter following that harvest such land is covered by the stubble of the harvested crop, by another crop or by grass.

(2) Sub-paragraph (1) does not apply to the extent that the prevailing agronomic or weather conditions and the condition of the composition of the soil of that land—

(a) after harvest are such that compliance with that sub-paragraph would be detrimental to the use of the land for agricultural production; or

(b) are such that they would allow cultivation to be carried out on the land in preparation for the following year’s crop rotation before the end of winter.

(3) Final seedbeds must only be created for as short a period as possible before the next crop is planted, to avoid significant erosion of the soil, taking account of prevailing agronomic or weather conditions.

(4) In this paragraph, “winter” means the period beginning on the day after the crop has been harvested and ending on the last day of February in the calendar year following that harvest.