Farm Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) – The present application round for productivity and slurry management closes on 4th April. The round for Animal Health and Welfare has just opened, capable of funding items such as solar panels for electric fencing, cow brushes, sheep handling, and cameras for monitoring animals. The opportunity for larger grants for cattle housing may be available later this year....
Recently, DEFRA sought feedback from a group of farmers, land managers and advisers in England to improve the presentation and accessibility of information related to farming legislation and regulation. The research group reported difficulty in finding relevant rules and understanding their implications due to the number of rules, their grouping, and complex wording. To address these issues, a single page called "Rules for Farmers and Land Managers" has been created on GOV.UK, which groups...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 23rd March 2023 Next week may give a glimpse of the scale of change ahead and what it might mean for rural land management if carbon imperatives begin to catch up with scheme design while we get closer to deadlines for targets. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change has just produced a synthesis report, summarising its work with the views that: it may now be harder to limit warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees without earlier...
DEFRA has published guidance for those who have been invited to submit a full application to the Slurry Infrastructure Grant: Invited applicants: how to fill in a Slurry Infrastructure grant full application - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
As part of the Foundation for Common Land's Defra funded Test and Trial, they are developing resources to reduce barriers to commons entering the SFI Moorland standard and to maximise outcomes. They have made available the resources on Internal Agreements the FCL Website. The Precedent and accompanying documents can be found here: Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) Moorland — Foundation for Common Land....
Members have been in contact to tell us that they are having trouble accessing RPA maps on an iPad. A recent update to the Rural Payments Service means that the maps now open in a new tab - this is to allow the user to continue to review and update information on the system while also using the maps. However, the default setting of the Safari browser on an iPad is to block pop-ups, preventing the new tab with the maps from opening. To changes this, iPad users should open Settings, scroll down...
The Government has confirmed the budget for the Contracts for Difference (CfD) renewable energy scheme Allocation Round 5 at £205 million. The CfD scheme provides financial support for renewable electricity generators. The support is allocated by auction, now annual starting with AR 5. More detail on the scheme may be found here and here....
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 16th March 2023 We see growing competition for the use of land with agriculture, itself likely to be on the Missing from the Budget Speech but buried in the accompanying papers, the Treasury has issued an important consultation and call for evidence on major taxation issues for farming, environmental matters and the management and use of rural land. Opening up important questions, the paper covers: the taxation...
The House of Commons Library, which, among other things, provides 'politically impartial analysis and statistics' to Members of Parliament and their staff, has published an overview of the changes to farm payments in the UK: CBP-9431.pdf (parliament.uk). This briefing includes extracts from policy announcements, enabling legislation and stakeholder views.
The Forestry Commission has updated its overview chart of the grants available for woodland planning, planting and management in England. The document can be found here: Woodland grants and incentives overview table - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The applications window for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), Countryside Stewardship (CS) revenue payments and Environmental Stewardship (ES) opened on 14th March. The claim window for BPS closes on 15th May 2023. Payments submitted after that date, but before midnight on 9th June 2023 will be considered late payments and a penalty will be applied. Claims, and the accompanying supporting evidence, for CS revenue payments should be submitted by 11:59pm on 15th May 2023. Claims submitted after this...
The RPA has released an updated version of their Key Dates chart. The latest version is available here: Rural Payments Agency key dates 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 9th March 2023 Shortage of water is an increasingly serious concern, even for the UK. Far from the traditional “February Fill-dyke”, we have just had the driest February in 30 years with 45 per cent of the usual rainfall. For East Anglia, it was the driest since 1959 with just 14 per cent of usual rainfall and 3.5mm in Essex. The shortage was generally significant across much of England, Wales and Ireland. Carrying...
The Government has announced the route between Birmingham and Crewe will see construction delayed by 2 years, with re-phasing of works to deal with "significant inflationary pressure and increased project costs". The CAAV will continue to liaise with HS2 to understand how this may impact land acquisition and will endeavour to provide an update for members at the next claimant agent meeting on 27th March 2023 (please email rebecca@caav.org.uk if you act for claimants and are not yet on the...
Following engagement from the CAAV and others, DEFRA has published updated guidance lifting the funding limits for Countryside Stewardship Capital Grant agreements. Previously, there was a cap of £20,000 for each of the 4 action groups. Published on 8th March, the new guidance states: There is no limit on either the maximum amount for any application or the amount you can apply for in each of the 4 groups (boundaries, trees and orchards, water quality air quality and natural flood...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 2nd March 2023 Eggs and then tomatoes have long been features of the rougher end of political debate but the new shortage of tomatoes might now make a sharper political point than the travails of the egg sector. In the shifting debates over food security, supplies have continued to reach shop shelves. The supply chain was seen to perform well in managing and adapting to the early days of the pandemic. However, rising food...
DEFRA has today published on its blog a run-through of the one-off grants available to farmers in 2023. The does not include capital grants under the Countryside Stewardship scheme. The post can be found here: Grants available in 2023 - Farming (blog.gov.uk). A wider look at payments available to farmers and land managers, including agri-environment schemes, can be found in this DEFRA brochure: Farming is Changing (blog.gov.uk)....
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 24th February 2023 With the Government now apparently stabilised after the events of 2022, decisions are coming steadily. Following January’s news on the English schemes for 2023 and 2024 with payment rates and the Environmental Improvement Plan, more news on productivity grants was given at the NFU AGM and then the long awaited policy development on biodiversity net gain was issued. We await much else including detail for...
The Foundation for Common Land have published on their website guidance - checked by the Rural Payments Agency - on Higher Level Stewardship agreement extensions on common land. The note is available here: https://foundationforcommonlan....
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 16th February 2023 Aid and regulation, stick and carrot, are Government’s main tools for achieving its statutory and demanding environmental targets, confirmed in December and affirmed by the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023. DEFRA January prospectus for the schemes offered in 2023 and 2024 shows us the aid and the carrot. We should not forget that role of regulations and the stick, becoming more potent as we near the...