Forms issued and made available on website

The NFC/ENC 9 form is currently being distributed to all Non-Food and Energy crop growers. The form is also available to be downloaded from the RPA website.

To enable RPA to complete the processing of your non-food / energy crops contract you need to inform us of the amount(s) delivered to collector(s) / first processor(s) for each contract submitted, for the above schemes, in 2007.

Crops grown under contract for non-food / energy use must meet the representative yields that have been set for 2007. However, it must be stressed that although the representative yields are the minimum that growers must deliver it is also a requirement that all of the crop harvested must be delivered for processing into an approved non-food / energy end use.

A notice was issued on 10 September detailing the 2007 representative yields.

Further information is available on the website for growers who have been affected by the exceptional weather conditions earlier in the year and are having difficulties in meeting the representative yields for the Aid for Energy Crops and Non-Food Set-Aside schemes.

It is imperative that the NFC/ENC 9 form is returned to the RPA as soon as possible. These payments, along with those under the Single Payment Scheme (SPS), will begin as early as possible in the payment window, which opens on 1 December. It is strongly recommended, therefore, that you ensure the form is returned prior to this date. Any delay in returning the form will delay your 2007 SPS payment.

Aid for Energy Crops Scheme - 2007 scaleback figures announced

Under the Aid for Energy Crops (AEC) Scheme there is an EU wide Maximum Guaranteed Area (MGA) of 2 million hectares used to support the growing of energy crops. This area ceiling is set so that the overall EU budget of €90 Million is respected, in terms of the €45 per hectare payment under the scheme.

For the 2007 scheme year, AEC claims across the EU were made on some 2.84 million hectares, significantly exceeding the MGA. It was a requirement, therefore, for the European Commission to agree with Member States an amount (0.70337) by which all the areas claimed under the scheme should be reduced (scaled back).

This means that only 70.337% of the area claimed upon under the scheme will be supported. This, in turn, effectively means that AEC claimants will receive a maximum payment of €31.65 per hectare for the eligible land on which they made a claim for AEC in 2007. This figure may also be subject to combined EC and National modulation of 17%.