Rural Payments and Services

For recent changes to this guidance, please see the bottom of the page.

The aim of this option is to maintain traditional small-scale agricultural systems which benefit a wide range of flowers, farmland birds and insects. Due to economies of scale there are increased costs associated with cropping on small units.

This option encourages small scale arable cropping and late cutting of grassland to provide food and habitat for a variety of wildlife.

Your eligibility for this option is based on the area of land in your IACS business permanent land holding that is not rough grazing. This area must be less than 30 hectares.

This area would not take into account areas of land covering rocks, scree, water, dense bracken etc. We will check this using the same approach we use to check land for the Basic Payment Scheme.

Assessing your land eligibility

If you are in the Crofting Counties, this limit includes the following:

• the area of your croft, and
• any in-bye apportionment, and
• any arable cropped land on the common grazing assigned to you by the common grazing committee

The area does not include the remainder of the common grazing.

This option provides an additional payment on those areas which you manage under one of the options listed below. The eligibility of your land for the options you choose to undertake will be dependent on the eligibility requirements for each option. This may include rough grazing land in some cases.

This option is available throughout Scotland.

Either:

Where your IACS business permanent land holding comprises more than five hectares (not including rough grazing), you must manage at least one hectare of your land split between two or more of the following options:

• Wild Bird Seed for Farmland Birds
• Forage Brassica Crops for Farmland Birds
• Unharvested Conservation Headlands for Wildlife
• Retention of Winter Stubbles for Wildlife
• Cropped Machair
• Wader and Wildlife Mown Grassland
• Corn Buntings Mown Grassland
• Corncrake Mown Grassland
• Chough Mown Grassland
• Species-rich Grassland Management

or:

Where your IACS business permanent land holding comprises five hectares or less (not including rough grazing), you must manage at least 0.5 hectares of your land under one of the above options.

You can claim: £77.78 per hectare per year.

You will only be paid for the area that you actively manage under one of the options above and declare annually.

You can claim this payment in addition to the sum claimed under each of the options listed above.

The inspectors will check:

• your IACS business permanent land holding comprises less than 30 hectares, including any in-bye apportionment and any arable cropped land on the common grazing but excluding the remainder of common grazing share(s) and any rough grazing
• where your IACS business permanent land holding comprises of more than five hectares, you have managed at least one hectare of your land split between two or more of the following options:
  
  - Wild Bird Seed for Farmland Birds
  - Forage Brassica Crops for Farmland Birds
  - Unharvested Conservation Headlands for Wildlife
  - Retention of Winter Stubbles for Wildlife
  - Cropped Machair
  - Wader and Wildlife Mown Grassland
  - Corn Buntings Mown Grassland
  - Corncrake Mown Grassland
  - Chough Mown Grassland
  - Species-rich Grassland Management

or:

• where your IACS business permanent land holding comprises five hectares or less, you have managed at least 0.5 hectare of your land under one of the above options

Supporting guidance is available for this option.

Previous versions of this page