CARA Wales

If you are currently part of the Tir Cynnal scheme, you will have recently been sent a letter asking whether you would like to join the new Transitional Tir Cynnal Scheme, or whether you would like to remain within your existing scheme.

If you choose to remain in your existing scheme it will come to an end on the 5th anniversary of joining the scheme, which for most people will be during 2010 or 2011.

The new Transitional Tir Cynnal scheme will run from 1st of January 2010 until the 31st of December 2013. This will therefore bridge the gap between your existing scheme ending and the new Glastir scheme starting.

You must return the form to the Welsh Assembly by the 28th September 2009 if you wish to join the Transitional Tir Cynnal Scheme. Please ring the office for further details.

Elin Jones has announced that there will be a further £6.8m of support given to the organic sector in Wales. The result of this is that all the applications made this year to enter the scheme will be accepted. It will also allow for more applications to be accepted to the 2009 scheme.

 There will be a total of £7.5m available in 2009-2010 and £5.5m in 2010-11. This means that payments have started with most farms receiving 70% of their total now.

If you are considering converting to organic farming then the advice would be to think about it as soon as possible to make sure you are in the first come first served bracket for the forthcoming year.

However in the same breath it’s advised that all farmers wishing to convert should apply for Assembly Government support before starting the conversion process.  This will enable farmers thinking about converting to be given a commitment of support or clear advice that they will not be supported and thus allow them to make informed business decisions. 

This good news won’t be such good news for others as the money has been taken away from other schemes to fund the organic applications. The result of this is that there will be a change in three other areas, these being

1)      All applications made for the Tir Cynnal Scheme on the SAF in 2008 will be put on hold for now until an Axis 2 review has been made.

2)      Tir Gofal applications that don’t reach the 100 points required for the scheme will be discarded without a visit and only those farms offering the best environmental result will be further pursued

3)      The Catchment Sensitive Farming Scheme will be delayed until April 2010 instead of late 2009. The number of catchment areas will however remain the same.

With more of your Single Farm Payment being swallowed up by increasing modulation rates, many farmers are now looking to recuperate some of this shortfall by joining an agri-environment scheme. Various schemes have been available over the last ten years including the ESA scheme (Environmentally Sensitive Areas), Habitat Scheme, Tir Cymen, and Tir Gofal. The latest scheme introduced was the Tir Cynnal scheme which has proved very popular with a range of farmers.

The Tir Cynnal scheme is open to all farmers as long as 5% of their farm can be classified as habitat i.e. broadleaved woodland, scrub, unimproved grassland etc. If the farm has less than 5% habitat, then farmers can choose to create habitats on their farm. One popular way of creating the habitat area required has been to grow a crop of unsprayed roots, such as swedes or stubble turnips.

Application for membership of the Tir Cynnal scheme is made annually on the Single Application Form, and payment is made on the anniversary of the agreement. Payment rates are as follows:-

0-20 ha   £45/ha                      £900

20-50 ha £30/ha                      £1800

50-100 ha £25/ha                    £3050

100-200 ha £5/ha                    £3550

Over 200 ha £2/ha

As part of the Tir Cynnal scheme you will be required to complete three management plans for your farm. These include a resource management plan, soil management plan and manure management plan. These will need to be completed before the first anniversary of your agreement and then updated annually to reflect any changes in farming system. These plans have proven to be very useful on a farm level by pointing out areas that could be problematic under cross-compliance, as well as highlighting over use of fertiliser on some fields.

The soil management plan states that testing soils on a regular basis would provide an environmental and business benefit to many farmers. At CARA, we now offer a soil testing service at £10 per sample. We have recently seen an upsurge in farmers undertaking soil samples to assess the fertility of their soils. The latest results received show that in general most P & K indexes are sufficient, however the majority of fields need significant levels of lime. Unless the pH of these soils is corrected, then the response to fertiliser applications will be limited. 

The time of year has come around again to complete the SAF. There are a few changes to note to the forms, the largest being the move towards “one form for all schemes”. Basically, all payments for Tir Cynnal, Tir Gofal and the Organic Farming Scheme will be applied for on the SAF form. This will mean that a greater deal of cross checking is required by applicants to ensure all records cross match and correspond.

If you require assistance in completing your form please contact the office.