[juliem]

Had a visit from inspector yesterday(only 24hrs notice) as 12 acres of pasture are in receipt of single payment.
I rent out for sheep grazing and control weeds (mainly thistles by spraying with hand gun...PASTURE.
Inspector says I will need spraying licence from next year. Checked course details and it's circa 2 days..300£
To be honest it's not a course that I could feel remotely interested in. and then there's the test !! Anyone any ideas how I get round this.
Don't want to go back to cutting thistles...by hand...too much hardwork.

[farmvet]

I heard about this. Lots of the farmers are talking about it.  I think your only other ( legal) option will be to use a contractor...

[juliem]

Sounds expensive and to be honest....I've got the 12 acres fairly tidy now with grazing sheep...only the occasional clump of thistles. I often use" pasture" to tackle things in my garden and then just carry on to spray the odd thistle/dock/nettle in the fields(with the sheep in situ). There is always the possibility that the inspector will not return. This is the first visit we have had an inspection in 20years.I have 4.8 hectares and because of the changes to qualification of 5 hectares next year I registered another half acre recently. Suspect this is the reason I've been targeted.
He also asked me to do a nitrogen survey which I've got to prepare and send off to him .A bit technical. Of course farmers have agents to do all this. Seems a lot of hassle for £800 a year Rumour is that the agency are targeting small landowners because it is easier and quicker for them than tackling large landowners .He did an extensive walkround all the boundaries to check all pasture was available for grazing.

[juliem]

I've also been asked to prepare a record of spraying for the last year..(Retrospectively)

[mab]

hmm; that's depressing. Are we still allowed to 'wipe' weeds if we cannot spray?

[mowhaugh]

As far as I understand it, you won't bo able to purchase the chemicals without the test, and then you records should show where and at what rate you used it, to 'prove' you've not passed any on to someone without the test, so the options are take the test or use a contractor.  Thanks for the reminder, we've been muttering about doing something about this for ages.

[juliem]

Well I use "pasture" to tackle ground elder in my garden as I find pathclear  iineffective.Purchased a bottle  from Wynnstay 4 years ago The inspector did say I have to quote some code from the bottle on the spraying record...so let's hope this isn't some kind of code that says it's now out of date.I actually manage this land on behalf of my father (who is 94) He has owned this land for over 60yrs....original small fields...blackthorn hedges..ditches dug 200 yrs ago..no fertiliser ..just pasture maintained by grazing cattle and sheep .Lots of questions about drainage from the inspector but as I explained to him it's just too wet to do anything with during the winter so the fields are left empty.

Ironic that we are surrounded by mega cereal fields...solar farms and a big MOD warehouse which Telford and Wrekin want to build in the next field (50 acre field..warehouse will cover 30 acres) and I'm put under all this focus I know the RPA are looking for savings by uping the qualification to 5 hectares...he did say there has been a lot of redundancies with inspectors. He was really very helpful..just doing his job.

[juliem]

contacted Harper Adams agricultural College today about the course for spraying ...I need to take PA 1 (generic) first and then after passing that the PA6(hand held applicator)...3 days circa £400 plus another day assessment. I don't think the course is really designed for the smallholder like me who just wants to kill a few thistles!!

[stufe35]

I would wait a while if i were you; usually when farmers are made to do something which costs money they just dont--and eventually free or subsidised courses are arranged for them in an attempt to get them to comply.

[juliem]

actually today I visited the Burwarton Show and was looking at some of the ride on mowers and thought it may be best to invest in a piece of farm technology to cut the thistles off....don't think I could cope with a petrol strimmer.(starting it that is) The organic approach might be the way to go next year

[Treud na Mara]

We are very much against using chemicals if we can and have started progressively weeding, by hand, our fields. We are about the same size 5ha and not all are equally bad and we don't spend whole days doing it. Wait till there has been some rain and then go and pull up a barrowful. Go and do something else then back and do another. With the docks - as soon as the seed spike shows - go chop a feed bag full. And just keep going back again and again. Rushes chopped as near ground level as possible just before they flower, then we bale them for animal and chicken bedding and other projects. We know we can never eradicate all of these intruders and seed can always blow in but it's a war of attrition we are determined to win!

[twizzel]

I would wait a while if i were you; usually when farmers are made to do something which costs money they just dont--and eventually free or subsidised courses are arranged for them in an attempt to get them to comply.

Doubt it, it's going to be one of those compulsory things since grandfathers rights are no longer valid, so farmers need to do it, therefore if it's compulsory I'm sure they will charge because they can make more money !

My OH did his last year, it wasn't an easy course. Involves purchasing PPE (gloves, hat, mask, appropriate clothes), a whole load of mathematical equations and paperwork and a theoretical and practical test at the end of it. I'd just get a contractor in to spray your fields as and when, much more simple.

[Steptoe]

Bureaucracy is in itself now an industry, albeit a parasitic one at that. I would like to know how many jobs have now been in effect created and secured, along with the amount of revenue that is generated by the plethora of questionable regulation, which is often being used as a two edged sword. Regulation discourages, to the point of forcing many people out of small businesses.

Regulation is invariably fallible, in that big business can easily and systematically appear to be compliant to order  to supersede proper accountability and responsibility.

At some point further down the road, as with all parasitic disorders or afflictions, the host will reach a point of collapse. By contrast, responsibility follows in the footsteps of integrity and proper accountability, as the means by which all of our collective needs and interests may be safeguarded but that would not facilitate the global policy of acquisition by elimination, favoured by those who would enslave us one and all.

The Single Farm Payment is but the principle means to chain producers to the wheels of systematic bureaucracy. 

[juliem]

I am wondering why we were were targeted by the inspector..as only 5% of farms are...was it because I had recently increased the holding from 4.87 to 5.16 hectares in anticipation of changes to qualification status. The payment is in my fathers name ..he's 94 so perhaps his age triggered off the inspection. There will be the active farmer hoop to jump through next year.....it needs to be transferred into my name but was advised by a agent to wait another year .We rent it out for £80 an acre during April to March....not many sheep farmers round by us.I won't have any horses ruining the fields.
Really by the time we have paid for hedges to be cut/fencing/maintainance we are making no money at all....it just means we've got control of the land round the house......and a bit of privacy.