Article 6 Land cover

70 % or more of the acreage available for manure application on the cattle holding in question shall be cultivated with grass, grass catch crops or beets and other crops being undersown by grass with low nitrate leaching potential. Farmers benefiting from an individual derogation shall carry out the following measures:

1. (a)

   Grass catch crops shall not be ploughed before 1 March in order to ensure permanent vegetal cover of arable area for recovering subsoil autumn losses of nitrates and limit winter losses.

2. (b)

   Temporary grassland shall be ploughed in spring.

3. (c)

   Crop rotation shall not include leguminous or other plants fixing atmospheric nitrogen. This will however not apply to clover in grassland with less than 50 % clover and to barley and pea undersown with grass.