News

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 18th November 2021 The national, rural and agricultural economies need more good businesses to face the expected challenges of this decade. For all the developing policies and larger national objectives, the economy and so living standards and public services rest on improving business performance. That means providing what people will pay well for, doing so efficiently with the greatest ratio between outputs and inputs –...

The Farming Investment Fund was launched on 16th November and, within that, the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) is now open for applications until 7th January 2022. Details are covered in this CAAV webnote The full and expanded list of items eligible for FETF with their specification and the grant payable on each is set out in this note on the Gov.uk website....

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 11th November 2021 The theme of nature recovery has gathered political force over the last decade, since the Lawton Report, Making Space for Nature, and DEFRA’s 2011 Natural Environment White Paper. From David Cameron’s concern, the 25 Year Environment Plan published under Theresa May’s premiership to the new Environment Act, the theme, summarised by George Eustice in July 2020 is that: “This Government’s pledge is...

CAAV POWER CUT – THURSDAY 11TH NOVEMBER CAAV e-mails and other services are likely to be disrupted for most of Thursday 11th November as Western Power Distribution has warned that, with local high voltage works in hand, it is cutting off power to the area from 8.30am until later afternoon, though these times are taken as approximate. Arrangements have been made to divert the telephone lines and to handle examinations traffic. Normal service should then be resumed. Alternatively, please call...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 4th November 2021 Animal welfare concerns now have an increased prominence, breadth and reach in Government policies, with a political force that should not be underrated. The Government has two animal welfare Bills in Parliament: the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill and the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill – each with potentially significant consequences. The 2017 election crystallised the new moment. The Conservative...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 29th October 2021 While the Government wrestles on a day-to-day basis with many areas of policy, it shows a sustained strategic direction for environmental and, within that, agricultural policy. While buffeted by events, the realities of government and practical issues of implementation, the approach, pre-dating Boris Johnson’s premiership, can be summarised as: the goal of environmental improvement, embracing climate...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 14th October 2021 It is a complex world. Today’s disrupted supply chain issues overlay the adjustments of the post-Brexit process, in turn overlaying the long run pressures of climate change. The global disruption of the pandemic is now rippling down the seasons like water sloshing when carrying a bowl. The waves of the pandemic were followed by strong recoveries in demand but supply chains frustrated as Chinese ports...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 7th October 2021 Boris Johnson’s speech yesterday to the Conservative Party Conference is another step in the mystery of the Government’s developing land use policies – indeed of “levelling up”. The pattern is for his high level statements to be developed later by ministers. It could intend extensive land use change. After a paeon to the UK’s landscape of “untouched moorlands” and “broadleaf forests”...

DEFRA has updated its guidance on creating and using a soil management plan. This information may be of interest to those land managers entering into the Sustainable Farming Incentive Pilot or considering soil and environmental management of their land. The guidance is available here.

The RPA’s Rural Payments system will be unavailable overnight from 5pm on Tuesday 5th October to 8am on Wednesday 6th October 2021 while Release 6 is installed.

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 30th September 2021 There is much discussion now about the need for farmers and landowners to be well advised. The need is clear with the scale of change and challenge for businesses and families: facing the withdrawal of Basic Payment in England and then Wales, with its prospective reduction and revision in Scotland and Northern Ireland. more commercial and changing markets and new technologiesthe effects of climate change...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 23rd September 2021 “‘Just in time’; that’s almost late”: a Cornish manufacturer’s description to me in December 2018 of the then supply chains. Current experience endorses his view of the weaknesses in ultra-efficient systems, lacking resilience when facing the problems we see on a national, continental and global basis. Stocks have been seen as a cost, an insurance provision not worth paying. The risks in...

Following their 4-yearly review of Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) designated areas in December 2020, DEFRA have announced that no substantial changes in the patterns of nitrate pollution in England have been found. Accordingly, designated areas remain the same for 2021 to 2024. A map of designated areas can be found here. More information, including how to challenge the inclusion of land within a designated area, can be found on the Government website....

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 16th September 2021 The fascinating politics of the last few days reveal serious conundrums as the government navigates between its existing voters wanting protection and the needs of its potential voters.While little may have been done to reform or even fund social care, the threat of crippling care costs to existing homeowners and their heirs appears reduced. It is now reported that their concerns see teeth drawn from the...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 9th September 2021 The fledgling world of transactions for environmental commitments is very young and potentially very innocent. It may match the early days for solar panels after Feed-in Tariffs were introduced in spring 2010 when initial activity moved faster than understanding or clearer perspective on value, opportunity and risk. We see a shifting balance from agreements for running payments for actions (common in...

It has been announced that the deadline for submitting claims for the Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grants Scheme has been extended until 31 December 2021. See the Scottish Government website for more details.

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 2nd September 2021 From the start of the pandemic, the Government’s concern has been to maintain contracts and activity in the economy. It has done so with measures such as the furlough scheme protecting employment contracts and grants and loans to tide businesses through. The resilience of the food supply chain passed its test last spring. As lockdown has eased, so the economy regained ground and unemployment stayed low....

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 26th August 2021 All parts of the UK are now shaping future agricultural policy. This week’s consultation paper from Scotland and policy framework from Northern Ireland follow England’s implementation of change and the Welsh Government’s confirmation of next year’s Agriculture Bill.Policies for climate change and biodiversity have increasing priority alongside wider environmental concerns and business performance. The...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 19th August 2021 The old saying is that a farmer only controls what is under his boot. Weather, governments, markets and all are external, to be taken as they come. Looking to what can be controlled is particularly important at such a time of change. The problem is less uncertainty than perspective, seeing where value, reward and risk really lie. Too great a focus on the changing landscape of schemes draws the eye and mind...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 12th August 2021 The CAAV has now published new editions of the model FBTs for England: one for largely bare land agreements for two years or less, the other for longer agreements and more fully equipped land – weblinks given below. New editions for Wales were issued earlier in the year. Revisions last year responded to Brexit; these pick up on the new policies under the Agriculture Act and the Environment Bill. They are...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 5th August 2021 Understanding risks is a key part of making a market work. A buyer wants to know exactly what is being bought; the seller wants to contain the risks in that. Market pressures, contract law, consumer protection and other interventions seek to help with means, like the Land Registry, to authenticate major assets. Environmental agreements, including biodiversity gain, have risks as much as any other transaction....

Clay tablets can last longer than parchment, papyrus and paper, keeping records of contracts, debts and now of the sale of part of a field in central Iraq four millennia ago. Dr Daniel Mansfield of the University of New South Wales has shown that, with the legal details, the Old Babylonian tablet Si.427 records the right angled triangles used to measure the areas and give more exact rectangles than in earlier tablet to get the boundaries right, towards 1900BC and over a thousand years before...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 29th July 2021 The further easing of pandemic restrictions enabled by widespread vaccination and past infections opens up thoughts of how the personal and social side of professional life, business and fellowship might resume. We are looking at what the new balance might be that, across the range of ways we work, combines efficient professional support and the social interaction of a wider life. While judging risk, there is...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 22nd July 2021 The Government in London is clearing desks before Parliament goes into Recess tonight. Tuesday saw statements on planning policy for housing in England, one of the most significant controversies for the coming months. The bones of the policy set out in August 2020’s White Paper are for: 300,000 houses a year, allocated where house price/local earnings ratios show demand councils to identify growth...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 15th July 2021 The House of Lords Committee stage on the Environment Bill has considered biodiversity gain, the proposal that all development should ensure a net 10 per cent in biodiversity, whether on-site, off-site or by a payment to a fund, with 30 year agreements to secure the change. Alongside other costs and policies, it will guide where development might go amid the conflicting pressures from housing to wildlife,...

A Tamworth potato processor has been fined £6,500 for a pollution incident killing over 450 fish. The company pleaded guilty to an offence under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations, 2010. A total financial penalty of £21,264 was imposed on the company which included a contribution to prosecution costs of £10,000. The pollution resulted from a split pipe pumping into the lagoon, and a crude attempt had been made to repair it. This was discharging into a ditch then...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 8th July 2021 Government announcements will see yet more focus not only on mitigating climate change (just now modelled by the Office for Budget Responsibility to cost Government less than its Covid measures) but also on adapting to and preparing for the new conditions. The UK, leaning into the Atlantic at median latitudes, appears better buffered from extreme change than many parts of the world but that is relative. The...

On 6th July, The Welsh Minister for Climate Change, Julie James, set out an “ambitious three-pronged approach” to address the impact of second home ownership on Wales’ communities. The three-pronged approach will focus on: support - addressing affordability and availability of housing,regulatory framework and system - covering planning law and the introduction of a statutory registration scheme for holiday accommodation; anda fairer contribution - using national and local taxation...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 1st July 2021 Seven months after the Agriculture Act and England’s Agricultural Transition Plan with its new schemes, DEFRA has published its approach to payments for environmental land management above the regulatory baseline. The Welsh Government has talked of payments appropriate for the value of environmental services achieved. Both have high ambitions to achieve real environmental improvement, knowing that needs a new...