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...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 9th February 2023 While it seems conventional to criticise a lack of policy development, that cannot be said of the areas with which we work. The policies of the Agricultural Transition Plan were further fleshed out last month. The Environment Act, last week’s Environmental Improvement Plan and the current Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill all lay out major programmes of work. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has finally...
DEFRA has today (7th February) opened the application window for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreements. The full guidance and more detail can be found online: Higher Tier grants 2023: Countryside Stewardship - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). For more background detail on government schemes for 2023 and 2024, see our website note of 26th January....
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 2nd February 2023 The momentum of environmental policy development is now gathering substantial pace with recent key building blocks increasing its potential coherence: the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 issued this week replaces 2018’s 25 Year Environment Plan demanding environmental targets were set in December, several bearing directly on farming and rural land management and now with more detail on the basis of...
The majority of minor updates to DEFRA's schemes and guidance are made to the existing webpages, with the update then noted at the foot of the page. To check what has been updated, users of the guidance should click 'See all updates' in publication details at the head of the relevant webpage. For example: Where members have printed guidance for a particular scheme, then they should be sure to check if anything has subsequently changed when they are preparing new applications. This will be...
The RPA has published a chart of key dates for 2023 for: Basic PaymentThe Lump Sum Exit SchemeCountryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship The chart can be accessed here: Key dates to look out for in 2023 - Rural payments (blog.gov.uk).
DEFRA have published on their Future Farming Blog a summary of the impacts and opportunities for land managers of the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023: What the Environmental Improvement Plan means for you - Future Farming (blog.gov.uk). A summary of the EIP is provided in a note on our website. We will be publishing a detailed review in due course....
Landscape Recovery is DEFRA's scheme for radical, landscape scale and long-term nature restoration and creation. For more background detail, see our website note of 6th January 2022. Round 2 of the Scheme is to open in Spring 2023. In preparation, DEFRA are inviting those interested to join a series of webinars, where they will be providing information and seeking feedback from potential applicants. The webinars can be accessed at the following links: Thursday 23 February 8:00 – 9.30...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 26th January 2023 DEFRA has today set out in over a hundred pages its approach, schemes and options in England for this year and 2024. It offers six new SFI standards for 2023, each now with options, not in separate levels, and their payment rates, some now moved from Countryside Stewardship and developed. The picture is given for Countryside Stewardship, now enhanced to carry the load that had been intended for Local Nature...
We have published an initial review of DEFRA's Environmental Land Management schemes update. The CAAV Note can be found here: CAAV Note 230126 England - Environmental Land Management Schemes Prospectus Announcements....
DEFRA has advised that the BPS Application window opens on Tuesday 14th March 2023.
DEFRA has reminded farmers to apply before the 31st January for the first round of the Slurry Infrastructure Grant. More information on eligibility and the funding available can be found in our website note of 23rd November 2023.
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 19th January 2023 Twenty years ago this week the EU Commission, then a power in Britain, published the draft legislation for the Single Payment Scheme. It being immediately clear that access to land would be the key to securing entitlements and then give access to future payments, this draft froze the agricultural land sales market. That required work and ingenuity by the CAAV and lawyers to develop the arrangements for...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 12th January 2023 DEFRA’s policy and operational decisions are now coming in fits and starts, not yet catching up with what many are seeking. December saw the announcement that Countryside Stewardship, already with some 35,000 agreement holders, would be developed to meet the larger land use objectives and local priorities previously set for the Local Nature Recovery scheme, which was not going to be seen at all until...
The Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) covering the whole of England, Wales and Scotland has been amended to forbid the movement of game birds that have been caught up for 21 days. The Game Act 1831 permits the catching up of wild game birds during the open season for the purposes of breeding. The prohibition came into effect at midday on 9 January 2023. Birds may not be moved from the premises where they are caught for 21 days after the last bird was caught, unless a licence is first...
The CAAV hosted a successful breakfast meeting at the 2023 Oxford Farming Conference. Jeremy Moody, Secretary and Adviser, gave a presentation to attendees, with the title 'Focus on What You Can Control'. Jeremy Moody drew attention to what might matter to farm businesses – and what might be a distraction – as we move further into this new era of change, risk and uncertainty. The slides are available here: Jeremy Moody' Presentation 06/01/2023....
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 5th January 2023 While a commonplace point in much end of year commentary has been uncertainty over agricultural policy, this is an area of relative certainty. Area payments are being phased out in England, are to be removed in Wales and made much more conditional in Scotland with strong climate change objectives. Only Northern Ireland, with no Ministers, Executive or Assembly, is not taking a new policy forward though the...
Chief Veterinary Officer for Northern Ireland, Dr. Robert Huey, has announced that the Avian Influenza Surveillance Zones in County Fermanagh have now been lifted and movement restrictions removed. The Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) remains in place across the whole of Northern Ireland and that includes the need to adhere to those strict biosecurity measures and the mandatory housing order introduced in November for all kept and captive birds....
The CAAV office will close for Christmas at 1 p.m. on Thursday 22nd December 2022 and re-open on Tuesday 3rd January 2023. May we take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 21st December 2022 Christmas is a fixed point each year in the calendar of turbulent centuries, important for the faith of many and, with older roots close to the darkest day of the winter solstice, long-embedded in the customs of our people, as it is in the customs of others. That continuity over the ages brings comfort in a time of uncertainty as the world, juddering with shocks, enters a new age of risk. The power of...
The Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme (SSBSS) 2022 application window will close at midnight on 31 December. The Scottish Government are encouraging those with eligible animal to apply now.
The Green Gas Support Scheme provides tariff support for plants producing biomethane via anaerobic digestion which is injected into the gas grid. It opened for applications on 30 November 2021 and is funded by the Green Gas Levy. It replaces the Non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive which closed on 31 March 2021. Tariff support is available to cover the cost of new biomethane production equipment and the cost of operating it. Tariff support payments are made for 15 years....
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 15th December 2022 The CAAV is presenting an event for those attending the Oxford Farming Conference, meeting in-person for the first time since 2020. This Conference has been meeting for many decades at the start of the year, bringing together farmers, advisers, policy makers and others from across the UK and further afield, looking ahead at policy and practice critical in these challenging times. Last year, we used a...
The RPA increasingly corresponds with registered land manages and their agents via email, updating them about individual business but also general changes and actions. We have been informed by a member of a potential issue with recorded contact details. Where the member has submitted a grant application or claim on behalf of a client and has then subsequently updated their contact details, it appears that the RPA may on occasion retain and use the contact details from the submission. In the...
To support its avian influenza mitigation strategy, DEFRA has launched a new online reporting system for dead wild birds in Great Britain. The system is available for use 24/7, making it simpler and quicker to make a report. Any member of the public who finds:One or more dead wild bird of prey such as an owl, hawk or buzzardThree or more dead birds that include at least one gull, swan, goose or duckFive or more dead birds of any sort Is encouraged to make a report and to provide contact...
The government has announced a consultation on the ECO+, an extension of the Energy Company Obligation. Much of the consultation is about general design, including eligibility (mostly low income households living in the least efficient property), costs and targets but there are also specific issues relating to the private rented sector. Eligibility for the private rented sector is considered in two areas: EPC D and E but not F and G on the grounds that landlords should have spent up to £3,500...
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 8th December 2022 We are now getting decisions again from the Government but they are often decisions made on the back foot, not as a fresh government with a mandate and programme but one navigating while pummelled by circumstances and firefighting successive shocks. The November Financial Statement was driven by a need to bring order and confidence in markets with the £100 billion reversal in fiscal position, just 55...
The Forestry Commission has updated 'operations note 42', their guidance on the interaction of woodland grant schemes and BPS. The note can be found here: Guidance on woodland grant schemes and BPS: operations note 42 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
With the payment window having opened on December 1st, the Rural Payments Agency has today advised that 95.3 per cent of farmers have already received their full balancing payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), topping up the first payments made to most claimants in July and August. Over 102,000 payments have been made, bringing the total paid to farmers to £1.528 billion under BPS, Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (ES) schemes.
The Slurry Infrastructure Grant has now opened for applications. Members can find more information on the Grant in our webnote of 23rd November. DEFRA, RPA, Environment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming are running a joint information webinar on Wednesday 7 December 2022 at 14:30. Those interested can register to attend here: Slurry Infrastructure Grant Webinar Tickets, Wed 7 Dec 2022 at 14:30 | Eventbrite....
The Scottish Government has announced grant support of up to £7,500 for installation of heat pumps in private houses. It is also offering similar levels of grant for households wishing to install other energy efficiency measures. The grants are increased by £1,500 for houses in rural areas. The previous obligation to take an interest-free loan alongside the grant has been removed. Private sector tenants are eligible for grants under some circumstances but landlords appear not to be. Further...
With the results of the CAAV’s practical, written and oral professional examinations now sent to candidates, the CAAV is very pleased to welcome 72 new Fellows from all parts of the United Kingdom.
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 1st December 2022 Two striking points about DEFRA’s agricultural and environmental policies, with their twin themes of improving farming productivity and the environment, are that: they are the principal area of post-Brexit policy development, with the Agriculture Act 2020 as the first major post-Brexit statute even with all the political turbulence, never minding the normal uncertainties of political life, the goals have...
Royal Forestry Society (RFS) and the Royal Scottish Forestry Society (RSFS), in connection with Trainhugger UK and GreenTheUK, have announced a new grant scheme for RFS and RSFC Members. Grants are for this planting season and beyond, at a rate of 50p per tree. Full terms and conditions, and applications details, can be found here....
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has announced 18 days of strikes in the next two months by its members at the RPA. The RPA has advised the CAAV and other that: “You may have seen dates for upcoming RPA strikes and we wanted to provide assurance on our level of service during this period. “We’ve been working hard over the summer and autumn to ensure that we get as many farmers paid when the payment window for BPS, CS and ES opens this week and we’ve made good progress....
The Welsh Government has announced that a housing order for all poultry and captive birds will come into effect on Friday 2nd December 2022. In addition, it will be mandatory to complete a biosecurity self-assessment. Three of the four nations of the UK now have mandatory housing orders in place, the exception being Scotland....
This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 24th November 2022 Government in London is now beginning to take decisions again. Civil servants have briefed their fourth set of ministers since the end of June and markets have been calmed after the fallout from the September Financial Statement. The backlog is large, the time left to this government even more limited and many of our issues laid out more starkly than before. From DEFRA, we have the good news of the...
DEFRA will host a webinar on the Slurry Infrastructure Grant on Wednesday 7th December. Participants will be able to put questions to the policy leads during the session.
DAERA is asking EFS agreement holders who started their agreement on 1 January 2022 to ensure they complete a Claim Confirmation this December. Farmers who accepted a Tranche 5 agreement in 2022 and submitted a year 1 claim using the Single Application Service this year, must submit a Claim Confirmation online between 1 December 2022 and midnight 3 January 2023. Failure to submit a Claim Confirmation will mean you will not be paid and your EFS Tranche 5 agreement will be cancelled. Claim...