Important items before sowing

This time, we aren't speaking about machinery, seeds or agricultural techniques... However, we will also show you some pictures about this nice task that were sent by our friend Kiko. He used his new Solá Vesta 2813 seed drill. We will speak about some ideas farmers need to know in order to do an appropriate planing of their fields and crops to avoid having any problems when farmers ask for CAP.

To be able of charging the Green Payment (also called Greening), you must have a correct crop diversification. Depending on the size of your farm, the rules are according the crop distributions you have to do:

• If your farm has between 10 and 30 hectares, it is necessary that you sow two crops without the main crop accounting for more than 75% of this cultivated field.
• If your farm has more than 30 hectares, you need to plant 3 different crops without the main crop accounting for more than 75% of the cultivated field and the two main together do not constitute more than 95% of the same.

It is also important to keep in mind:

• Cultivated areas of ecological agriculture, as well as those of permanent crops (vineyards, olive trees, almonds, etc.) directly pay green.
• Fallow fields are considered a crop. It can be fallow two or more years.
• If the previous year a field was fallow, you can sow cereal or pulse vegetables in the following campaign.
• If a field has been planted with nitrogen-fixing crops (pulse vegetables, protein crops,...), it cann't be fallow or any other nitrogen-fixing crop in the following season.
• The different cereals (barley, wheat, triticale,...) are considered different crops.
• You can sow cereals in the same field again, but you cann't sow any nitrogen fixing crops again in the same field.

If you practice ecological agriculture and your farm exceeds 15 hectares, at least 5% of the cultivated land and forested areas have to be ecological interest area (SIE). Areas of ecological interest will be considered:

• The fallow fields (1he of SIE = 1 fallow hectare).
• The areas dedicated to nitrogen fixing crops (1 he of SIE = 1.43 he of pulse vegetables).
• Forested areas, during the course of the corresponding commitment acquired by the farmer.

Regarding the collection of the subsidies associated with the Protein Crops, the following information must be known:

• Crops can be:

1. Protein crops: peas, beans and sweet lupine.
2. Pulse vegetables: veza, yeros, carob bears, field beans, sharks, atholva, alverja and alverjón.
3. Fodder pulse vegetables: alfalfa (only on rainfed fields), fodder, scallop and zulla.
4. Oilseeds: sunflower, rape, soybean and camelina.

• Requirements:

1. To reach established phenological state: milky maturity (protein crops and pulse vegetables), flowering (fodder pulse vegetables), grain set (oilseeds).
2. Animal feeding.
3. Providing proof of sale (invoice) or having a RECA code.

• Amount to be received:

1. Protein and pulse vegetables: 60 €/he
2. Oilseeds: 40 €/he (up to 50 hectares per farmer)

For farmers who produce ecological vegetables for human consumption, they need to know:

• The crops will be chickpea, lentil or beans.
• They should be regulatory framework of  ecological agriculture.
• The amount of the basic aid will be of 100 €/he.

Versión en español.

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A farm implement for all: The cultivator

Of course, the cultivator is the most important tool in our area. Summer is really dry and soil is very compacted. Besides, Autumn is too little rainy so we cannot use plough and we have to prepare seeding bed with cultivator (or similar implements like short disc harrows, straw harrows, beam harrows,...) a few times.

We have already commented we practice traditional tillage so we have to work soil before seeding. If weather is rainy, the easiest way to work soil is using plough but in our village we don't use it because soil is very clayey. Then, more used implements are disc harrows and cultivators... definitely, cultivator is essential in the garage of any farmer in our area.

Normally, we carry out a few works using our cultivator. We begin them in August (to destroy stubble... maybe, this work is ideal for short disc harrows), another work is performed in September to finish of removing stubble, the third turn is in October to kill weeds that have growed with first autumn rains and before seeding we carry out the last task to get a perfect seeding bed. For all of them, the Ovlac Minichisel cultivator is fantastic.

Ovlac's Minichisel is a stubble cultivator which is available in 2 and 3 row configurations, trailed or mounted, with working widths from 2.5m up to 10m. Its 35×35 mm tines (30×30 is considered also available as an option)  allow to work between 3 and 25cm deep. The stone protection system based on rubber suspensions provides a 3-dimensional protection in no matter which direction, upwards or sideways. The elastomer system is 100% maintenance-free. This protection system allows the tine to trip up more than 30 cm thus allowing to overcome any eventual obstacle. The tine spacing in 2 rows configuration tool is of 27.5cm (we think it is excessive and it can be a problem) and 23cm in 3 rows configuration tool.

Versión en español.

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