DEFRA publishes future farm support details
The Environment Secretary, George Eustice, will be delivering a speech at the NFU Conference tomorrow (Wednesday 26th February) and ahead of that has announced the publication today of:-
- a Policy Discussion Document around the design of the new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) - this should give a high level overview of the proposed three tier structure. DEFRA is inviting views on these proposals, with ten weeks to submit comments (through to 5th May 2020); and
- a Future Farming Policy Update to accompany the Agriculture Bill. It should include further detail on productivity grants (available from 2021); support for research and development (from 2022); and animal health and welfare. It also expected to include broad detail around the phasing out and 'delinking' of direct payments.
A news release is available on the GOV.UK website.