The Arable Area Payments Regulations 1996

PART C SPECIAL CONDITIONS APPLYING TO GUARANTEED SET-ASIDE LAND

Application of conditions to guaranteed set-aside land

22.  The provisions of paragraphs 23 and 24 below shall apply to guaranteed set-aside land.

Application of fertilisers, waste and lime to guaranteed set-aside land

23.—(1) Where guaranteed set-aside land is managed in accordance with paragraph 4 above, fertiliser may be applied to that land at any time between 1st March and 31st May inclusive during the current scheme year where a green cover is to be established in accordance with that paragraph during that scheme year, provided that the total nitrogen content of all fertilser applied to any agricultural parcel of the land during that period shall no more than 30 kilogrammes per hectare of that parcel and that any fertiliser so applied contains no potassium or phosphorus in any form.

(2) A farmer may apply fertiliser to guaranteed set-aside land if he satisfies the Minister that the land is situated in an area known to be used as a feeding area by geese in winter and is to be managed as such an area.

(3) A farmer may (subject to sub-paragraph (4) below) apply organic waste to guaranteed set-aside land if that organic waste was produced on land–

(a) which he farms as a single unit with the set-aside land and he satisfies the Minister before applying the waste to the land that were he prevented from so applying it–

(i) he could not reasonably otherwise deal with it except by applying it to the remainder of his holding; and

(ii) such application to the remainder of his holding would result in an application of a greater concentration of nitrogen than is compatible with good agronomic or environmental practice, and

(b) in relation to which he observes such conditions or limitations (if any) as are imposed by the Minister in relation to any application so permitted.

(4) The application to any agricultural parcel during the current scheme year of organic waste with a nitrogen content greater than 250 kilogrammes per hectare of that parcel shall not be permitted.

(5) A farmer may apply lime to guaranteed set-aside land during the current scheme year where the current scheme year is the last one to which his undertaking to set aside the land (pursuant to Article 5 of Commission Regulation 762/94) is applicable and the land is to be cropped in the following scheme year.

Permitted agricultural production

24.—(1) A farmer may undertake permitted agricultural production on guaranteed set-aside land only to such extent as does not result in overgrazing of that land.

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) above, “overgrazing” means grazing or otherwise stocking land with livestock in such numbers as adversely to affect the growth, quality or species composition of vegetation on that land to a significant degree.