The RPA has now paid over 66,000 farmers their Basic Payment Financial Discipline reimbursement payments. The remaining 10,000, save for small number, are due to be paid in the next two days.
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 6th May 2021. The gathering momentum of our apparent recovery from the pandemic, led by rural areas, sees more return to offices and meeting clients on farm, contractors or other parties in negotiations. Face-to-face contact offers immediacy, directness and subtleties, not mediated by a glowing screen with slight delays and connection failures, and brings the opportunity for the informal side conversations that help build the...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 29th April 2021. This CAAV e-Briefing was first issued a year ago as we absorbed the possible length and scale of the pandemic’s challenge and looked for means to support and brief members. The kind comments we have had over the year suggest that it has helped, while the CAAV has both sustained its activity and been recognised again in statute. Among the year’s themes has been the acceleration of change anyway caused...
The application window for Forestry England’s new woodland creation scheme will close on 1 June and landowners are urged to apply in time. The Forestry England Woodland Partnership was launched in March, and is aimed at landowners including public bodies, environmental NGOs and farmers, offering an annual, guaranteed rent in return for a long-term lease on land of at least 50 hectares. The Forestry England Woodland Partnership is a chance to diversify landholding and farming businesses and...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 22nd April 2021. While the long-awaited DEFRA consultation on the lump sum option and delinking for Basic Payment has been twice delayed by the “purdah” periods for mourning and the Scottish, Welsh and local elections, the Prime Minister has this week announced a significantly more demanding target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Its potentially radical effects are described by the Financial Times as laying:...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 15th April 2021. We pay tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, a firm advocate of the countryside, farming, the environment and rural communities, nationally and in the management of the Royal Farms, who died on 9th April. His life spanned a century of service, active until long into his 90s and characterised by determination, inquisitiveness and an interest in innovation, engineering and technology. The Duke of Edinburgh Award...
The National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) is asking rural and farming businesses in England's North East, South West and Midlands how they are dealing with COVID-19 to explore rural resilience. The survey will also explore how firms’ local networks have contributed to survival and growth, the impact of financial pressures on businesses, families and communities as well as issues around workforce, the availability of broadband, and aspects of local supply chains. Any business...
The CAAV has published a new paper, Future Rural Land Uses in the UK, reviewing the pressures and opportunities for rural land.
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 8th April 2021. Despite the late spring, the pace of policy change here is quickening and that will see change on the ground. We should shortly have DEFRA’s consultation on the lump sum option and delinking of Basic Payment in England. Whether or not the lump sum option for 2022 proves attractive, simply considering it draws attention to how little life is left for English Basic Payment entitlements. Entitlement...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 1st April 2021. In a sector of family businesses, a quarter or more of farms and estates might see generational change in any decade. Some may take longer, as where the business has no natural successor; others will come faster, whether by chance or necessity. This is likely to accelerate in the 2020s as the pressures for change intensify, often in circumstances requiring careful advice, personal support and good management....
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 25th March 2021. Three recent decisions on utilities regulation are intended to enable more investment by them, resulting in more work on clients’ land. Since their privatisation, the main utility companies, with their access to the consumer’s doorstep, have been closely regulated. Concerns about affordability and hostile press coverage has put a public focus on regulating the prices charged for water, gas, electricity...
The exclusion of a huge proportion of the rural economy from the new super deduction capital allowance is perverse and discriminatory, according to the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV). The 130% super deduction capital allowance announced in the Spring Budget is limited to companies, excluding a substantial part of the economy, says Jeremy Moody, secretary and adviser to the CAAV. “At a time when the economy needs more support to invest than ever before, the exclusion of...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 18th March 2021. Looking from the outside, current European attitudes to the Astra Zeneca vaccine can appear to live down to the UK’s expectations of the EU’s approach to the precautionary principle, especially in the context of innovation. While that principle states that scientific uncertainty should not postpone cost-effective measures to prevent a threat of serious or irreversible harm, the EU’s interpretation...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 11th March 2021. Barely two months after the EU Transition Period, the pace of post-EU policy development is sustained, especially in England and perhaps particularly with DEFRA. Without the 28 state, 3 institution haggling of the EU (the post-2020 CAP is still unresolved), George Eustice saw Brexit as the opportunity to do domestic policy better while some in Government already see the urgency imposed by a 2024 election....
Charles Cowap is delivering a 5-part training course with Ecosystems Knowledge Network on Applying a Natural Capital Approach. The course starts on April 19th and runs over five 90 minute sessions. Details are available on the EKN website.
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 4th March 2021. Yesterday’s Budget heralds two years in which companies will be paid to invest in plant and machinery. An investment that would now have an 18 per cent capital allowance against tax will from next month have a 130 per cent capital allowance (the “super deduction”) and those that would get a 6 per cent allowance will be allowed at 50 per cent. A lack of business investment has been seen as a key part...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 25th February 2021. Do we know what it means for a landowner to enter into an agreement for carbon sequestration? What are the implications of “selling” carbon for the land and its users? Are we at risk of uncritical assumptions that: this is a significant source of value for an average landowner?that, being associated with positive change, it imposes no practical constraints? that now or soon is the time to sell?...
It is being widely reported in the press this morning (24th February) that the Stamp Duty Land Tax holiday will be extended until the end of June. An announcement from HM Treasury is expected in next week's Budget.
Environment Secretary George Eustice set out more details on DEFRA's approach to future agricultural policy in his speech to the NFU Conference 2021 today (23rd February).
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 18th February 2021. Reflecting on conversations over the last week, one common theme has been the importance of looking beyond the immediate challenge. Seeing where the world is moving will aid better decisions that are more effective for the longer term when meeting immediate issues. The pressure for climate change mitigation and other environmental goals is now a central part of policies across the United Kingdom....