farm payments

Farmers fear Defra will not deliver on post-Brexit support, says CLA head

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Small upland farmers beware – the whole policy mood music arising from the roll out of the post EU rural land based agenda points towards difficult times for smaller and livestock orientated producers going forward. This story tells us:

Farmers are anxiously awaiting further detail from the government on imminent changes to their subsidy payments, with many reluctant to trust the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to manage the transition, the leader of one of the UK’s biggest farming organisations has said.

“Quite a few have said to me: ‘Well, we’re not at all clear what Defra is doing,’” Mark Tufnell, the recently installed president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), told the Guardian. “[They say:] ‘We don’t think that Defra know what they’re doing,’ and ask me: ‘What do you know?’”

The CLA represents about 28,000 farmers and owners of rural businesses in England and Wales, including some of the biggest landowners and a large number of smaller ones, with about 18,000 members farming less than 300 acres. Members are hoping for more details of post-Brexit support for farmers at the organisation’s conference on Thursday, where the environment secretary, George Eustice, will set out what support farmers can expect when their basic farm payments are cut by between 5% and 25% this year before being phased out entirely over the next six years.

Defra’s dual use decision attacked by farm leaders

I once interviewed George Dunn, mentioned below and he was on a list of stakeholders without much detail. His reply in response to my question – “Could we start by discussing your role in the organization for which you work” was “I think they call me the Chief Executive….” It was a great understated and humourous response which dealt very gently with my lack of homework. Suitably chastened we pushed on and I found him to be a man of insight and perception. I am interested in terms of my previous experience of George to think very carefully about his take on this issue. This story tells us:

A long-awaited decision by Defra on whether to allow “dual use” of land under different CAP schemes has been attacked by farm leaders – although they disagree on the right way forward.

The most common example of dual use is where a tenant claims under the Basic Payment Scheme and a landlord claims under an agri-environment scheme.

The NFU had been lobbying for this practice to continue under the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme. However, the TFA had been arguing for an end to dual use, on the grounds that payments should only go to the people who are actively farming the land.

Farm minister George Eustice revealed on Monday (21 September) that dual use will be allowed for higher-tier applications starting on 1 January 2016, but not for mid-tier applications until 2017.

This approach would allow environmental work to be delivered cost-effectively and over a larger area, without disrupting BPS payments, he said.

But in response, TFA chief executive George Dunn accused Defra of making a decision which “defies logic and will perpetuate injustice in the landlord tenant system”.

Farmers missed out on £2.3m in payments, says RPA

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The RPA has said a total of £2.33m was withheld from farm payments because of cross-compliance breaches relating to inadequate paperwork. Last year the RPA recorded 2,972 failures with cattle keepers attracting the highest number of breaches (810) for incorrect reporting of movements and animals being found without passports. An extra 711 inspections focusing on soil protection and nitrate vulnerable zone issues meant these areas generated the second highest number of failings.

Failure to keep accurate and up-to-date records, leaving temporary field heaps in position for more than 12 months or too close to watercourses, accounted for 562 breaches. RPA operations director Paul Caldwell said: “Release of these figures is just one of the ways that we help farmers and the agricultural industry as part of our ongoing commitment to support rural economies. The aim is to make farmers aware of the most common errors to help them to avoid future penalties and keep more of their vital Single Payment Scheme funds”.

Just think…Digital by Default, LEADER

UK plan to slash farm payments

I was in a meeting in Halifax today, discussing the dependency of small scale upland farmers in the South Pennines on off farm income. I have experienced the same issue in the Durham Dales and Upland areas of Cornwall and Cumbria. All of which makes me very  nervous about the issues arising from this article which tells us: 

“British farmers could see direct payments slashed by one third if the UK government gets its way on CAP reform, it has emerged.

Plans outlined by UK negotiators in Brussels would see individual countries allowed to reduce direct payments by as much as 20%. 

The figure is on top of European Commission proposals that would see 10% of direct payments permanently transferred towards rural development. The net effect could see payments to UK farmers reduced by 30%, warned Gail Soutar, the NFU’s senior CAP and international affairs advisor.”

What gives real cause for concern is the drying up of many of the jobs people currently do in these places off farm to support their farm enterprises. I worry that going forward these individuals will face a “double whammy” potentially losing their off farm work and a third of their direct payments. This will have an impact not just on the farmers and their families but on many landscape environments we love and cherish. Parts of the South Pennines are already suffering from under land management or near abandonment and this issues has the scope to get far worse. Time we had a good think about the issue!!!