Recently the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) announced that farmers are putting themselves at risk of losing Single Payment Scheme (SPS) payments because they are not completing their Soil Protection Reviews (SPR).

Farmers were fined over £2.5 million last year for Cross Compliance failures.

Senior Surveyor at Stags, Andrew Ranson said: “The RPA inspections have revealed that generally it is the smaller farms that are at higher risk and according to the RPA, failing to complete a Soil Protection Review has been the most noted breach of the Good Agricultural and Environmental (GAEC) standards under cross compliance for each of the last four years.

“Claimant’s in most cases are likely to be fined five per cent of their Single Payment Scheme Payment,” he added.

The RPA has recently commenced cross-compliance inspections for the 2012 Single Payment Scheme year. Early results indicate that there are again widespread failures due to the lack of a Soil Protection Review. 19 per cent of farms inspected so far have failed GAEC 1 because an up-to-date SPR has not been available for the Inspector, or the document contained errors.

“Completing a SPR is a reasonably straight forward task, which put simply involves farmers identifying risks on their soils and how to address them.” adds Mr Ranson “The rules for accessing waterlogged land have changed slightly and farmers need to record activity on waterlogged land and corrective action they take.”

The document can be completed in a number of ways:

  • Completing the booklet, including maps
  •  Online via the Whole Farm website www.wholefarm.defra.gov.uk
  • A spreadsheet available on the RPA website www.rpa.defra.gov.uk

The SPR rules should not be confused with the Nitrate Vulnerable Zone, Statutory Management Requirement (SMR) four rules, which apply to just over 50 per cent of the South West. These rules in summary include:

  •  Considerable record keeping, including an assessment of locations at higher risk of run-off etc.
  •  Restrictions on the timing and amount of manure and fertilizer that can be applied,
  • Manure storage requirements.

Readers who would like further advice and help completing the Soil Protection Review or the NVZ requirements should call 01872 279911 or email professional@stags.co.uk to be redirected to your local member of Stags’ professional services department.