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The Government has published a range of documents in preparation for the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain in England in January 2024: Draft statutory instruments, amending existing legislation and making provision for the Biodiversity Gain Site Register, excepted sites and irreplaceable habitatsUpdate guidance for BNG, collected here: Biodiversity net gain - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)A revised Biodiversity MetricDraft planning practice guidance on BNG We will follow the announcements with a...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 23rd November 2023 The let sector covers a third of England’s farmland, still with many 1986 Act tenancies but more than half on FBTs, and still large areas of Wales and Scotland. In addition to that scale, it provides a critical means of flexibility in farm structures, entry, expansion and exit from farming, relieving owners of the need to farm and enabling farmers to have the use of land without having to buy it. Its...

On Tuesday night Jeremy Moody was formally bestowed Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), its highest honour, in a ceremony at the RAU attended by Chair of the Governing Council, Dame Fiona Reynolds, as well as the Vice Chancellor, Earl Bathurst as Vice President and many of the senior leadership team at the RAU. Jeremy Moody was commended to the meeting by William Leschallas. The event was also attended by friends, family and alumni – including the current CAAV...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 16th November 2023 At least the UK does not have volcanoes. Iceland, a land still being forged in fire, is watching in awe at the risk of an eruption 25 miles from its capital, evacuating a town before its destruction. In Europe’s other volcanic area, the Phlegraean Fields near Naples and Vesuvius have just had a 4.2 earthquake. Here, we are only following Iceland in the more benign search for geothermal energy prospects in...

DEFRA is holding two upcoming SFI Webinars:20th November, for Livestock and Grassland Farmers4th December, for Arable and Horticultural Farmers...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 9th November 2023 Speaking to the North East Chamber of Commerce, Keir Starmer returned strongly to his party conference theme of the vigour that a Labour Government would bring to secure new housing and infrastructure as part of encouraging economic growth (see webnote). It chimes quite closely with the legislation that the Conservative Government is putting in place and, even while repeating the intention to “bulldoze”...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 2nd November 2023 The variability of British weather has long been a topic of conversation but our extreme weather events now come “not single spies but in battalions”. Hundreds of acres of Lincolnshire farmland are still flooded and Angus had at least 11½” of rain in October, the wettest since its records started in 1891. As rain falls on saturated land, we see surface water flooding as well as river flooding –...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 26th October 2023 It is only October and we already have our second “named” storm. Storm Babet has repeatedly battered and saturated Angus, Aberdeenshire and neighbouring counties with still more rain falling after silage bales had been washed out to sea. Flooding has gone wider, whether Framlingham, Derby, Retford, parts of the Welsh border and now the central south coast. This is the present taste of the more volatile,...

The Government has announced that the closing date for new applications to the Green Gas Support Scheme (GGSS) is to be extended to 31st March 2028. The extension is in response to difficulties experienced by project sponsors in commissioning anaerobic digestion plant and in securing feedstock. The extension is part of the Government's response to the mid-scheme review. Further details of the response will follow in due course. The policy framework for biomethane following the closure of the...

Applications open on the 23th October for the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund 2024. More information is available here: Facilitation Fund 2024: Countryside Stewardship - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).