A FARM consultancy business is warning that forthcoming changes to the common agricultural policy (CAP) in January are likely to impact farmers’ EU payments.

George F White, a land, property and business consultancy, said that under new rules of the CAP - voted for by MEPs - the use of pesticides in so-called ecological focus areas (EFAs) will be prohibited.

The group said the legislative change, which will be implemented from January 2018, means that pesticide use will no longer be allowed on crops and land that are counted as an EFA, affecting farmers across the region.

The changes to the EFA rules means pesticide use will no longer be allowed on nitrogen-fixing crops, fallow, cover and catch crops that are counted as EFA. However, the group added that the exact rules are yet to be set.

Sally Horrocks, a consultant at the firm, said: “This will have a major impact on farmers affected by the greening rules under the basic payment scheme (BPS) funding next year because, to qualify for the greening element of BPS payments, those farmers with more than 15 hectares of arable land must designate at least five per cent of their land as EFA. It’s a huge deal because the ban will affect almost all the features eligible to use as EFA. It is certainly a concern for a large number of farmers who grow peas and beans to meet their EFA requirements, as this now questions the viability of growing the crop commercially, as well as to meet the greening rules for BPS.

“Essentially, it will mean farmers profitability will be squeezed even further at a time when farming support and subsidy needs to be at a maximum.”

Before applying for their BPS funding for 2018, Ms Horrocks said that farmers will “have to re-address their business and land and decide whether they need to utilise other land to meet the EFA requirements without affecting income level both from a funding and crop-selling perspective.” Ms Horrocks said: “The new changes might make the process trickier.The EU needs to make the new regulations a lot clearer.”