Monday, September 21, 2020

New form of help for farmers

The Government is trying to devise a system of temporary subsidy payments for farmers to meet the gap between the phasing out of the Basic Payment and the arrival of the new Environmental Land Management Scheme.   That is going to be piloted in 2021 and rolled out nationally in 2024.

An interim system of payments called the Sustainable Farming Incentive is to be made available from 2022.  This will include help to improve productivity as well as to farm sustainably.

Defra research shows that subsidies make up 61 per cent of profit for the average English farm.   Some of the biggest sums go to large scale farmers.  Sir James Dyson revealed in an interview over the weekend that he receives £2.9m in Basic Payment subsidies for his farms.

Farmers are concerned that multiple schemes may be administratively complex leading to delays in payments as has happened with Countryside Stewardship.

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