Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 355: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will review the regulation in the REP scheme whereby miscanthus can only be grown on 10 hectares or 25% of any land holding as this condition is discouraging growers from entering into the REP scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17406/08]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 356: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will review the condition of the REP scheme four whereby miscanthus growers must leave an uncultivated four metre margin around each field or plot of crop as the condition serves no agronomy, bio-diversity or environmental purpose; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17407/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 355 and 356 together.

REPS is a agri-environmental measure, and for that reason payments to farmers must be costed and justified on the basis of quantifiable environmental benefits that go beyond keeping land in good agricultural and environmental condition and observing the statutory management requirements of the Single Payment Scheme. No element of the REPS payment can be justified on the basis of a production support, nor can a farmer be compensated for the same action twice. REPS is not a support scheme; it is a voluntary scheme open to all farmers and payments under the scheme are not entitlements as of right. Participants who agree to be bound by the scheme conditions qualify for payment.

The maximum area of miscanthus permitted on REPS farms is 10 hectares or 25% of the REPS contract area, whichever is the greater. This area limitation is in order to maintain landscape diversity. It would not be desirable or acceptable in an agri-environmental scheme to have whole farms, or a major portion of the lands, devoted to the growing of an introduced species monoculture. Existing levels of flora and fauna need to be sustained, and if possible improved, on all REPS farms and the large-scale growing of miscanthus is not consistent with this objective.

Four-metre margins are necessary to allow for routine hedgerow maintenance which can take place only when the crop is standing in the field, and to protect against invasion by the miscanthus root system into field boundaries. This crop can attain heights of more than three metres which can result in deep shading of field margins and associated hedgerow habitats. Consequently the margins must be wide enough to prevent indigenous plant species being deprived of light. Hedgerows are the only refuge for indigenous plant species associated with the former grassland or tillage field use, and they must be kept in a condition that is adequate to provide for diversity of flora and fauna to be maintained.