Under paragraph 3.10 of this Agreement you have agreed to abide by Standards
of Good Farming Practice. These Standards are as follows:-
Overgrazing: you should avoid overgrazing, which mean
' s grazing your land so as to adversely affect the growth, quality or
species composition of vegetation (other than vegetation normally grazed
to destruction) on that land to a significant degree. Cases of suspected
overgrazing will be investigated and failure to follow subsequent professional
advice would be a breach of your Agreement.
Undergrazing: stock should be distributed across your
farm to ensure that underutilisation is avoided: this is defined as where
annual growth is not being fully utilised, or where scrub or coarse vegetation
is becoming evident, and this is detrimental to the environmental interests
of the site. Cases of suspected undergrazing will be investigated and
failure to follow subsequent professional advice would be a breach of
your Agreement.
Supplementary Feeding: Where supplementary feeding
is permitted by your Agreement, the feed must be provided in such a way
that the vegetation is not excessively trampled or poached by animals
or rutted by vehicles used to transport feed.
Field Boundaries: you must not remove or destroy any
hedges or stone walls on your holding except by special derogation and
subject to any necessary consent under the Hedgerow Regulations 1997.
Enforcement will be through visual assessment of any recent damage during
field checks.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSS1s): if you
have an SSSI on your holding, you will not proceed with any potentially
damaging operations without having first obtained approval from English
Nature.
Silage and Slurry Stores: if you construct a new silage
or slurry store you must notify the Environment Agency before starting
to use it. We will check to see if this notification has taken place.
Sheep Dip: if you propose to dispose of sheep dip on
your holding you must obtain prior authorisation from the Environment
Agency. Checks will be made to see that either an authorisation has been
obtained or that there is a reason why no authorisation is needed in that
individual case.
Hedgerows: do not trim hedgerows on your holding between
1 March and 31 July. Enforcement will be through visual evidence of recent
damage during any checks carried out in these months.
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