Defra documents lack CAP greening detail

Defra has published two documents on CAP greening rules, but key questions about the three-crop rule and Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) remain unanswered.
The documents, entitled Greening: Work out what it means for you and Greening: Crop list for crop diversification rules , were published on Defra’s website on Monday (9 June).
The cropping list details all the crop types, which will count towards the three-crop rule.
See also: Read more news on CAP reform
Under the rules, spring- and winter-sown crops will be counted as separate crops. But it is not clear whether drilling a winter variety in January would mean it would be classified as a spring or wheat crop.
The first document confirms the definitions for arable land to help farmers work out if the three-crop rule applies to them.
However, on EFAs, it says Defra did not yet know all the details.
“We will be announcing more information about what features will count and how they will be measured soon,” says the document.
“We will tell you more in our next leaflet, which we will publish later in the summer.”
The news is likely to add to farmers’ frustrations, who in less than a month, will be needing to cultivate ahead of oilseed rape drilling.
More detail is expected – and needed – in the coming days.