Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 508: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give details of the definition of the following terms, namely, rough grazing and active farming, with regard to the qualifying criteria for entitlements under the single farm payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9334/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Eligible land is all land which is subject to an agricultural activity by an applicant such as arable crops, hay, silage, grazing by farm animals or which he/she chooses to top on an annual basis. Land, which was declared on a 2008 Single Payment Scheme application, which gave rise to a payment and was subsequently afforested, can be eligible in certain circumstances.

If an applicant is not producing crops or animals from the land, he or she can chose to simply top it in order to maintain it in Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition, a requirement of the Scheme. However, in the case of hill/mountain land or marginal land, or other rough grazing, which cannot be mechanically topped, the only way of maintaining it in GAEC is to graze it with sufficient cattle or sheep. For land to be eligible to an applicant, the farmer must be in control of it for a period including 31 May 2011 and be actively farming it to keep it in GAEC.

The Terms and Conditions of the Single Payment Scheme advise applicants, inter alia, as follows:

In order to draw down full payment of SPS entitlements, an "eligible hectare" must be declared in respect of each entitlement. In this context, an "eligible hectare" is land that is used for an agricultural activity and includes land used to grow cereals, oilseeds, short rotation coppice, miscanthus sinensis, protein crops, sugar beet, maize, fodder beet, turnips, mangolds, kale, grass (for silage, or hay or grazing).

Applicants are legally required to declare all the land that will form part of their holding on 31 May 2011, excluding any land that is leased-out or rented-out for any period that includes 31 May 2011.

The person declaring the land on the Single Payment application will be held responsible for any non-compliance with the statutory management requirements under cross compliance or any failure to maintain the lands declared in good agricultural and environmental condition for the period 1 January to 31 December 2011. Lands declared as agricultural land must be maintained as such until 31 December 2011, unless afforested – under the Afforestation Aid Scheme. Any change in the status of declared agricultural land must be notified to the Department.

Applicants declaring rented-in land should satisfy themselves that they will have sole and exclusive use of the land in question for agricultural purposes for the period of the rental agreement.

To claim the direct payment under the 2011 Single Payment Scheme, all of the hectares of land declared by an applicant (owned, rented-in and leased-in) must be subject to an agricultural activity, by the applicant concerned, for a period that includes 31 May 2011. Lands declared as being available on 31 May 2011, for the purpose of drawing down payment, must be maintained as agricultural land for the calendar year 2011, or planted under the Afforestation Aid Scheme in 2011.

All Scheme applicants should familiarise themselves fully with the Terms and Conditions of the Scheme prior to submitting an application.