If you receive a payment under the Basic Payment & Greening scheme you must follow a variety of regulations on the environment, public health, animal health, plant health, animal welfare and land maintenance. This system is known as Cross Compliance. The regulations you need to follow are called Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs) together with the requirements under GAEC.

These are set down in EU legislation Directives and the 13 Regulations and are listed below: ( It is important to note that the 13 SMR’s are set in Irish law and are therefore compulsory for all farmers to follow, irrespective of whether direct payment is being received or not)

• SMR 1 Protection of water against pollution caused by nitrates.
• SMR 2 Conservation of wild birds.
• SMR 3 Conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora and fauna.
• SMR 4 Food and feed hygiene.
• SMR 5 Restrictions on the use of substances having hormonal or thyrostatic action and beta -agonists in farm animals.
• SMR 6 Pig identification and registration.
• SMR 7 Cattle identification and registration.
• SMR 8 Sheep and goat identification and registration.
• SMR 9 Prevention and control of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).
• SMR 10 Plant protection products (PPPs).
• SMR 11 Welfare of calves.
• SMR 12 Welfare of pigs.
• SMR 13 Animal welfare.
• GAEC – Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition

A farm audit by DAFM will go through all the SMR’s relevant to your holding and non compliance issues will be noted. A penalty may apply which could vary from a few hundred euro to loosing your entire Basic Payment for a number of years.

Greentrack will look at your farm and farming practice and advise on issues that may give rise to non compliance and monetary penalties on foot of a cross compliance farm inspection.

Greentrack will also appeal any penalties imposed where we consider grounds of appeal to be significant. Denis Faulkner is an approved CCFAS advisor.