All farmers and landowners who claim subsidies from Defra, via BPS or stewardship schemes are required to establish and/or maintain what’s known as a 2m protection zone against boundaries and watercourses.
What is the 2m protection zone?
- Loosely speaking, the 2m protection zone is a grass margin that needs to be kept in place against all ditches, watercourses and boundaries on land that is used to claim subsidies from Defra. You do not need to maintain a 2m margin against boundaries which only consist of a fence, nor against woodland.
- This rule is listed under the relevant GAECs. Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECSs) are in place to safeguard soils, habitats, and landscape features on farms. They are baseline requirements for all farmers within Cross Compliance.
GAEC 1: Establishment of buffer strips along watercourses
- This requirement protects watercourses against pollution and run-off from agricultural sources by maintaining buffer strips.
- You must not cultivate or apply fertilisers or pesticides to land within 2 metres of the centre of a watercourse or field ditch, or to land from the edge of the watercourse or field ditch to 1 metre on the landward side of the top of the bank of a watercourse or field ditch.
GAEC 7a: Boundaries
- This requirement protects boundary features, such as hedgerows (hedges), stone walls, earth banks and stone banks.
- You must take all reasonable steps to keep a green cover on land within 2 metres of the centre of a hedge.
Do I still have to have a 2m margin against hedges and ditches if I have stewardship margins?
- Yes! When drilling stewardship margins, these are additional to the two metre protection zones that should already be in place. So, if you have a standard 4m grass buffer strip against a hedgerow as part of your stewardship scheme, you will need to leave a width of 6m from the centre of the hedge.
What benefits do stewardship margins/buffers carry?
- The benefits of the additional stewardship margins are that hedgerows and the mandatory 2m protection zones are then protected from any close ploughing and drifts from sprays, fertilisers and manures. They help protect watercourses from leached nutrients, sediments from soil erosion and run-off, and from any potential pesticide contamination.
- Margins or buffers planted with wild bird seed or pollen and nectar flower mixes not only encourage insects and pollinators, such as butterflies and bees, but can also provide a year-round food supply for birds.
The Rural Payments Agency actively check for breaches of two metre protection zones as part of both full cross compliance and environmental stewardship inspections. CXCS can help you to ensure that you are compliant on your land and are meeting all the specific requirements, including with the records that need to be kept.
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