Cutting or Destroying Set-aside
Defra is today reminding farmers whose holdings contain set-aside land of the requirement to either:
- Cut the green cover between 15 July and 15 August; or
- Destroy the green cover between 15 July and 31 August
Please see the Set-aside Handbook and Guidance 2006 Edition for further information.
“Insurance” (or “Voluntary”) Set-aside
Farmers sometimes treat additional land as ‘insurance’ set-aside to guarantee that they have placed sufficient land in set-aside.
However, farmers should note that any land placed in set-aside over and above that required on their holding, should be maintained under GAEC 12 (Land not in Agricultural Production) which follows different management rules from set-aside. In particular, GAEC 12 requires that you must not cut the green cover between 1 March and 31 July. Please see the Cross Compliance Handbook for England 2006 Edition for further information.
As such to ensure that such land can be used as “insurance” set-aside, it must comply with both the set-aside and GAEC requirements and as such should be cut between 1 August and 15 August
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