§ Lord Marlesfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
In which European Union countries, for the purpose of the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) of the Common Agricultural Policy, accurate field areas are supplied by national governments to farmers; in which countries farmers are expected to engage surveyors at their own expense to measure field area; and 75WA whether they believe that the practice should be uniform within the European Union or whether it should differ under the concept of subsidiarity of the Maastricht Treaty. [HL1079]
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Hayman)Agriculture ministries in most or all member states and regions of the European Union supply IACS claimants with area information about their land. This may take the form of a map, an aerial photograph, a printout showing areas of fields claimed in the previous year, or a combination of more than one of these. However, it is only farmers themselves who are in a position to determine the actual proportion of the total area of their land that they are entitled to use as the basis of their IACS claims each year, and throughout the EU it is they who are responsible for ascertaining what those areas are. The IACS regulations, rightly in the Government's view, do not prescribe uniformity in the determination of areas used for the basis of aid claims.
Instead, member states have the option of allowing farmers to claim, where appropriate, the total area of a field as shown on an official map or alternatively the area actually utilised. The option of claiming the total field area has been of value to UK farmers, since it avoids the need for them to incur costs associated with determining actual cropped areas, but the European Commission has indicated that its continued availability can only be justified if the extent of uncropped areas around field margins is kept within reasonable limits.