Exemptions from the requirement to maintain a green cover on the land set aside from production
8.—(1) In each field or part of a field to which any of the options mentioned in paragraph 1(1) or (2) is applied, a farmer is not required to maintain a green cover on the land set aside from production where that green cover is destroyed following the application of herbicide to the land on or after 15 April in the current year.
(2) In respect of each field or part of a field to which any of the options mentioned in paragraph 1(1) or (2) is applied, a farmer will by virtue of this provision be treated as exempt from a requirement to maintain a green cover where he or she satisfies the National Assembly that the green cover which he or she established failed and he or she could not reasonably have prevented such failure.
(3) The exemptions mentioned in sub-paragraphs (1) and (2) will apply until —
(a)in the case of the exemption in sub-paragraph (1), the commencement of the following green cover season; and
(b)in the case of the exemption in sub-paragraph (2), the end of the current year.
(4) In each field or part of a field to which any of the options mentioned in paragraph 1(1) or (2) is applied, and in which a farmer has chosen not to establish a green cover on a strip of land pursuant to paragraph 7(2), he or she need not maintain any green cover which nevertheless subsequently becomes established on that strip.