Important Three Crop Rule Derogation Update

It as been confirmed that growers can make crop choices that best suit their situation even if that leaves them non-compliant with ‘Three Crop Rule’.

The Department of Agriculture has said that although formal approval from the EU Commission for the a derogation on the ‘Three Crop Rule’ for Irish farmers is still awaited, the advice from the Department is that where alternative crop options are not available to allow farmers to be compliant with Crop Diversification rules, growers can make crop choices that best suit their current situation, even if this leaves them non-compliant with the Crop Diversification rules.

The Department of Agriculture says it is confident that the case being made for a derogation on the 3 crop rule meets the relevant standards for such an exemption.

The Department is in the process of adding some new functionality to the iNet system to allow applicants avail of this derogation. For farmers and advisors who have already applied or who do so before the introduction of the new functionality, an amendment will have to be made to declare that the non-compliance in 2018 is due to the adverse weather conditions this spring.

Any further queries with regard to this issue can be addressed to [email protected]

EU Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan confirmed at an IFA meeting on Friday, April 20th that he has political approval from the Commission for the derogation.