Cross Compliance
See below for notes 1a to 1c
1a
SMR1, water protection is a direct copy of the Control of Agricultural Pollution (Wales) regulations (CoAP Regs) to bring them into Cross Compliance Regulation. The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021: guidance for farmers and land managers | GOV.WALES
Additionally the Recommendations include:
DAIRY ensure the volume of slurry to store is minimised with separation of clean and dirty water and covering of stores where possible.
1b
GAEC4, minimum soil cover Cross compliance: minimum soil cover (GAEC 4) (2020) | GOV.WALES requires that ‘where land has been harvested with a combine harvester, forage harvester or mower, one of the following conditions should be met at all times, between the day after harvest to the 1 March: 1. the stubble of the harvested crop remains in the land 2. the land is prepared as a seedbed within 14 days for a crop and the crop is sown within a period of 10 days, beginning with the day after final seedbed preparation’.
NOTE GAEC 4 allows maize stubble over winter therefore does not align with the Recommendations
Additionally the Recommendations include:
BEEF & LAMB/DAIRY/COMBINEABLE CROPS Grow maize only on appropriate fields. Undersow in spring with a cover crop that remains after the maize harvest or, if not undersown, use an early maturing maize variety and then as soon as possible after harvest sow a cereal crop or a quick growing cover crop in time to establish before winter.
1c
GAEC5, managing land to limit soil erosion Cross compliance: managing land to limit soil erosion (GAEC 5) (2015) | GOV.WALES requires that ‘to prevent erosion on late harvested land or on land where a forage or root crop has been grazed out, if it is not possible to sow a cover crop, you must put in place appropriate measures to limit soil erosion by either installing sediment fencing or chisel ploughing’
Additionally the Recommendations include:
BEEF & LAMB Only grow (winter grazed brassica crops) on appropriate fields. Manage the grazing to prevent run-off (e.g. graze from the top of a sloping field). Preferably avoid root crops which leave the soil bare when grazed and instead use leafy brassicas and other species, grazing them rotationally to allow regrowth to keep soil protected.
POTATOES Grow potatoes only on appropriate fields and implement appropriate mitigation measures to prevent run off from fields (e.g. grow early maturing varieties, use buffers strips alongside water courses and in-field grass strips to break flow lines, use tram line disruption machinery and sediment traps) .
