The two- and three-crop rule leads to “putting crops in a field for the sake of it, not because it is good for rotation or good for profitability” according to Westmeath-based tillage farmer Alex Butler.
Butler acknowledged that while the three-crop rule might make sense in other European countries where cropland dominates over grassland, this is not the case in Ireland.
He explained at Tillage Day that the rule greatly increases the time, costs and logistics involved in moving machinery between fields, with spreaders and sprayers often only half-filled to work on small areas.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said he is currently “trying to fight for as much flexibility as possible for member states” for these rules in the next CAP.
He explained that this would help us to “make our own decisions that best suit our system, but that don’t undermine the common market”.
