The fallow honey, good news from the 2018 CAP

El fallow melífera

Honey fallow, good news from the 2018 CAP, but also for bees and all animals (including partridges, rabbits, sisons, bustards, primillas...).

On the 15th, we gave a talk about apiculture flora at the Ayora Highway Training Center. One of the topics that most interested was a new measure for the 2018 CAP. We hope that this post will help to clarify things and encourage you to implement it.
From the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) we can say a lot of things, from very bad to very good. And today it's time to talk about something new for the 2018 CAP, which is very positive. It is aimed at improving the conservation of bees and other pollinators, but in practice, it will improve the conservation of all types of arvenous fauna and flora.

This novelty is the so-called “honey fallow”. To collect the CAP, the applicant must meet some requirements and one of these is to allocate part of the farm to Areas of Ecological Interest (SIE). Well, fallow honey will be considered SIE starting next year. And it also computes as 1.5. This means that whoever sows 1 hectare of fallow honey, in the declaration, will count as 1.5 hectares. And this makes her very attractive. But in addition to the fact that it has other advantages, it is a cheap measure to apply and will have a benefit to increase pollinators and other species, especially birds and in particular, hunting, in addition to rabbits.

How is this measure enforced?

For this measure, the applicant must cultivate a series of species between January 1 and September 30 and keep the crop for at least 6 months. You cannot use that area for commercial species, so if you use a commercial species, you must mix it with another so that you cannot harvest and sell it.

What species to use?

The document lists a number of species that can be used, but in practice only a few are viable. For the price of the seed. This is because many species have very limited seed production and the price is very high and are only used in ecological restorations. So from the list we are going to indicate which ones, in our opinion, are interesting, because they have a price per seed, which makes it viable.

Veza (Vicia sativa). This species is being cultivated a lot now to meet the different crop percentages required by the CAP. The price of the seed is about 5€/Kg. Since it is not for harvest, it can be cultivated with less density than usual, but it MUST be accompanied by another species. It does not count as an apicultural fallow if cultivated alone.

Rooster Pipirus (Onobrychis hispanica) and Sparrow (Onobrychis vicifolia). These two species are very similar. They are cultivated in fresh dryland areas, to produce grass by making one or two cuts a year or bringing in the cattle. They must be mixed with another species to count as fallow honey. The price of the seed is 1.5 €/kg. For forage, 40 to 200 kg/ha are cultivated. It has the great advantage that this crop is kept for up to three years. The note from the Ministry of Agriculture only says that the crop must be at least 6 months old. It would be a very good measure to allow this crop to not have to be lifted every year, since if it is longer it will allow a greater development of pollinator communities (many bees and bumblebees spend the winter buried in the ground) and grass flora and also, depending on the variety, these species do not bloom the first year.

Rapeseed (Brassica napus). Yes, rapeseed is an excellent honey producer. Like many cruciferous trees. The production is such that beekeepers are looking for it a lot so that the hives become “strong” to be able to multiply them. Unfortunately, sometimes the phytosanitary products that are used or the monoculture of this species, have negative effects on bees. It is included in the list of species to be used. It can be an excellent companion to the veza, the spaghetti or the pipirrooster.

White mustard (Sinapis alba). It is used as a green fertilizer, it is very melliferous and in olive trees it is also used, when planted in the streets, as a herbicide, since it drowns out all other herbs and prevents verticil. Its price is about 3 €/Kg. A very interesting option.

The planting densities must be such that the fallow is covered, but we understand that they should not be the same as for productive crops and therefore, applying less seed will be cheaper and more profitable for the farmer. Your suppliers will tell you how to apply them. In addition, phytosanitary products should not be applied. For any questions, the services of the Administration in your province or the agrarian unions will help you to see how to apply this measure in next year's CAP.

We encourage you to implement this measure that will benefit all fauna, offering food, shelter and place to breed What species do you think can benefit besides bees?