Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will grant farmers flexibility in allowing livestock to graze land which is not normally permitted for grazing because of the short supply of bedding and grazing.

Three variations or derogations from EU law have been granted or are under active discussion in Brussels in relation to grazing. First, some member states have secured permission to allow the grazing of Ecological Focus Area (EFA) Fallow Land. This derogation is not relevant in England as we already allow the grazing of such land after 1 July each year.

The UK was the first Member State to raise a concern with the European Commission over the difficulties farmers faced in establishing EFA catch crops by the required date of 20 August. Other Member States agreed with us and the Commission agreed that “force majeure” should apply in these circumstances, so we could waive any penalties for farmers for non-compliance with EU law.

The third possibility relates to the small areas of land that have been declared as EFA Winter Cover Crops for the purposes of the EU Greening requirements. This green cover must be present from 1 October to at least 15 January and ordinarily must not be grazed. Because of the extreme weather conditions, the EU is considering waiving that rule for 2018 in suitably justified areas, and we have asked that England be listed amongst those countries eligible for this derogation. The change that we expect to secure this week will allow for grass and other herbaceous forage to be grown in those areas, rather than the usual restrictive list of plant species, and for those areas to be grazed.