Section 2 Eligibility
2.1 Is my business eligible to make an application?
An eligible business must occupy, and have control over, agricultural land. The land in question must be owned or held under a secure tenancy agreement or contractual licence for at least an unbroken 5-year term or, if the term of the tenancy or contractual licence has less than 5 years to run, the landlord will need to complete and sign a declaration in the RSS 2006 application form. That declaration commits the landlord to ensuring that the obligations detailed in the scheme agreement are properly fulfilled until the expiry of that agreement should the tenant cease to have control over the relevant land at any time before completion of the full 5-year term. Farmers, crofters or grazing clerks in this category are eligible to apply. A landlord can apply only for land that is in hand or let out on a seasonal basis. The participant will be responsible for ensuring all Scheme requirements are met for at least 5 years. If any land included in your agreement is leased out on a seasonal basis, you will be responsible for ensuring that the Scheme requirements are met on that land. The eligibility criteria used to define an eligible business under IACS-related schemes will be used to determine the eligibility of the agricultural business. It is not necessary to have applied for, or to intend to apply for, any IACS schemes to be eligible under RSS. All agricultural businesses without a Business Reference Number ( BRN) will have one allocated for RSS purposes. For the purposes of the RSS, 'agriculture' is defined in the Scheme Regulations as including 'horticulture, fruit growing, seed growing, dairy farming, livestock breeding or keeping, the use of land as grazing land, meadowland, osier land, reed beds, market gardens and nursery grounds'. This means, for example, that land used as an orchard would be eligible, but that land used exclusively for grazing horses kept for non-agricultural purposes, and no other livestock, would be ineligible.
2.2 What about Crofters' Common Grazings?
Grazing Clerks or others acting on behalf of a Grazings Committee can apply in respect of Common Grazings in addition to individual crofters who may apply in respect of their individual croft lands. There are additional requirements for applications on behalf of Common Grazings Committees. For more details, please refer to the next Section of this booklet.
2.3 What if I have already joined another Agri-environment Scheme?
If you are currently participating in an ESA Scheme or the Habitats Scheme and are coming to the end of your 10-year agreement, you may apply to join the RSS to obtain continued support for environmentally-friendly farming, provided your entry into the RSS will not result in your receiving management payments under both Schemes for the same land for the same management period. If you have already joined another agri-environment scheme, you can also apply to join the RSS but you cannot receive annual management payments for the same management on the same land from both Schemes.