SP5 code guidance for waterlogged land

Farmers worried about how they should code waterlogged land and crop failures on their SP5 form have been offered new guidance by the Rural Payments Agency.


The agency has said that where patches of a crop have not grown or died off and cannot be replanted then this land should still be coded the same as the rest of the field.


For example, if the land was planted with wheat and some patches failed the whole field should be coded as OT1.


Normally, the status of the land in 15 May determines the land code that should be used.


However, the RPA has updated its guidance because of the abnormally wet conditions.


It has said that for any fields planted in autumn 2012 where the whole crop has died off or won’t be harvested because of flooding, then if the intention is to plant a spring or autumn crop in 2013 the field should be coded OT1.


If the field is to be left fallow for the whole of 2013 it should be coded OT2.


Any fields which were too wet to plant in the autumn and have remained too wet to plant this spring can be dealt with in a similar way.


“If the intention is to plant a spring or autumn arable crop, such as wheat, in 2013 the field should be coded OT1,” it says.


“If the field is likely to be left fallow for all of 2013 it should be coded OT2.”


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