New regulations that give farmers flexibility over how they implement EU rules have been announced by Environment Secretary Owen Paterson. 
Under new EU regulations, known as greening, farmers must ensure five per cent of their land is set aside as an Ecological Focus Area (EFA), instead of being used for farming.
To ensure that farmers are able to continue their essential work of growing food, improving the environment and boosting the rural economy, Defra has chosen a package of options which give farmers flexibility over how they comply with the rules.
Farmers will be able to choose how to meet the EFA requirement from a list which includes land lying fallow, buffer strips, ‘catch and cover crops’ used to manage soil fertility and quality, Nitrogen Fixing Crops such as legumes and hedgerows.
To receive CAP payments, farmers also have to adhere to ‘cross compliance’ environmental regulations. To reduce the burden on farmers, Defra has cut these measures from 17 to 11.
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said:
“We want farmers to be free to do what they do best: producing food and helping to grow the economy. I have said all along the EU’s CAP reform is disappointing, but we have worked hard to remove the worst aspects and to make these new rules as easy as possible and given flexibility on how they are implemented, as well as reducing the burden of regulations.
“We have allocated £3.5bn to rural development schemes, which we believe is a much better way of improving the environment and growing the rural economy.”
