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Environmental Standards for Farming - Consultation on proposed changes to standards in cross compliance Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) and related measures in England
The consultation is now closed.
Defra held a 12-week public consultation on proposed changes to the cross compliance Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs) and related measures in England from 4 March 2009 to 27 May 2009. A summary of responses will be made available via this webpage in due course.
“We would like to thank those who responded to the consultation,” said Hilary Benn, Defra Secretary of State. “We have received just over 200 responses, all of which have been considered as part of the decision making process.”
This consultation sought views on a range of proposed changes to cross compliance following the conclusion of the review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP Health Check). These proposals related to cross compliance standards and related measures in England.
Ministers have now decided to pursue the proposed changes to cross compliance; including the introduction of new standards on abstraction licensing and no-spread-zones for fertilizer and manure, the consolidation of soil standards, changes to GAEC 12 (the standard for agricultural land not in agricultural production), clarification of the application of GAEC 14 to hedgebanks and the introduction of an advisory approach to buffer strips for the protection of water from run-off pollution.
The consultation also looked at two possible ways forward for recapturing the environmental benefits of set-aside. The first option included a combination of a new cross compliance requirement and incentives delivered through Entry Level Stewardship (ELS). The second option consisted of an industry-led voluntary approach that would encourage both ELS uptake and voluntary environmental management by farmers outside ELS, with a regulatory fallback. Ministers have now decided to pursue the industry-led voluntary approach, known as the Campaign for the Farmed Environment.
See also
- News release (9 July 2009)
- Letter to consultees
- Consultation scope document
- Consultation document (PDF 1.26 MB)
- Proforma for consultation responses (Word format 150 KB); also available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format (50 KB) (updated 5/3)
- Consultation Stage Impact Assessment (PDF 1.93 MB)
- News release: Defra seeks views on re-establishing environmental benefits of set-aside.
- List of consultees
- Summary of responses (PDF 350 KB)
- Impact assessment (PDF 880 KB)
- Peer review of the NFU/CLA proposal ‘Option B (PDF 200 KB)
Further information
Supporting Documents
- Industry-led Option B proposal:
- Paper by Natural England outlining the approach for setting targets to deliver similar environmental benefits to those from set-aside and other uncultivated land and accompanying letter of Helen Phillips to Sir Don Curry of 3 April (PDF 2.3 MB)
- Summary note of Natural England’s paper outlining the approach for setting targets to deliver similar environmental benefits to those from set-aside and other uncultivated land (PDF 110 KB)
- CSL (2009) - Phase 1 Report: Estimating the Quantitative Environmental Impacts of a package of potential options to recapture the benefits of set-aside (PDF 524 KB)
- FERA (2009) - Phase 2 Report: Estimating the Quantitative Environmental Impacts of a package of potential options to recapture the benefits of set-aside - Quantifying benefits and uncertainty (PDF 1.9 MB)
- Rural Payment Agency and Natural England (Dec 2008) - Executive Summary: Joint Report on implementation alternatives for recapturing the environmental benefits of set-aside (PDF 52 KB)
- ADAS 2009 - Evaluation of cross compliance (PDF 1.75 MB)
- Information note – Evidence base - Recapturing the environmental benefits of set-aside– 6 April 2009 (PDF 183 KB)
- Information note - Farmland Bird Index – 6 April 2009 (PDF 121 KB)
- Soil Protection Review Changes: Informal Consultation.
- FERA (2009) - Quantifying the environmental impacts of the campaign for the farmed environment (PDF 1.6 MB)
Stakeholder workshops
- Recapturing the Environmental benefits of set-aside (23 April 2009)
- Buffer strips next to water courses (30 April 2009)
Relevant links
- Sir Don Curry’s High Level Set-Aside Group webpages
- Agricultural change and the environment: Observatory Programme
- Natural England
- Rural Payments Agency
Page last modified: 21 September 2009
Page published:
4 March 2009