Category: Policy & Business

HS2 Woodland Fund

The Forestry Commission has announced that the HS2 Woodland fund is now open for applications.  There is no closing date but the £1m funding available will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.  The scheme supports the creation of native broadleaf woodland between 1 Ha and 25 Ha, and the restoration of Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS).  Funding of 100% is available for a range of capital items and includes a maintenance payment also available for woodland creation.  It is available to those within 25-miles of the HS2 route.  Further information and a list of items available can be found at https://www.forestry.gov.uk/england-hs2 

25 Year Environment Plan

Theresa May has unveiled the long awaited 25 Year Environment Plan.  With the aim of the Government to leave the environment in a better state for the next generation, the Plan sets out the steps it will be taking to achieve this ambition.  It looks forward to delivering a ‘Green Brexit’ and includes more detail on farm policy, as we seize this ‘once-in-a-lifetime chance to reform our agricultural and fisheries management’.

The 151 page strategy is wide-ranging and covers far more than just agriculture (much of the press coverage of its launch focused on the recycling of plastics).  Rather than an actual ‘plan’ to achieve set outcomes it is more a statement of intentions, issues to be addressed, overall goals and policy ideas.  Whilst it includes 44 targets across 10 policy areas, there is little detail on how these will be reached.  The Plan is designed to be a ‘living document’ with updates in the future, but, there are currently still significant gaps in terms of implementation to be filled-in.   

In terms of agriculture, the main focus is on a new ‘environmental land management scheme’ to replace both the BPS and current agri-environmental schemes after Brexit.  As outlined in Michael Gove’s speech at the Oxford Farming Conference, this will move to a system of paying farmers ‘public money for public goods’.  It will ‘incentivise’ and ‘reward’ land managers to improve ‘natural capital and rural heritage’.  According to the Plan, bureaucracy will be kept to a minimum under any new scheme as well as making the application procedure more user-friendly.  Proposals for the new environmental land management system will be set out in a Command Paper in the spring and will be consulted on widely with farmers and stakeholders.

Other topics within the Plan that are likely to be of relevance to farming include;

  • a focus on improving soil health
  • promotion of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approaches to the use of pesticides
  • the aim of planting 11 million new tress.  This includes continued grants for afforestation and the promotion of a ‘Northern Forest’ along the M62 corridor
  • the introduction of  ‘innovative’ funding mechanisms to support the environment such as biodiversity offsetting and conservation covenants
  • more focus on natural flood management schemes
  • a review of the 70-year old legislation around National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including the possibility of new designations
  • improving productivity in agriculture so as to reduce the resources used to produce food
  • raising water quality with a focus on the better management and use of slurries, manures and artificial fertilisers
  • a commitment to 300,000 new homes a year in England, but that the existing Green Belt, areas of high-environmental value, and the best farmland should be protected.

Whilst the Plan only officially relates to England, some of its provisions may find their way into UK-wide frameworks where it is agreed that action is best taken on a collective basis.

Altogether the Plan identifies six key areas around which action will be focused:

  • Using and managing land in a sustainable way
  • Recovering nature and enhancing the beauty of landscapes
  • Connecting people with the environment to improve health and well-being
  • Increasing resource efficiency, and reducing pollution and waste
  • Securing clean, productive and biological diverse seas and oceans
  • Protecting and improving the global environment

The full Plan can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/673203/25-year-environment-plan.pdf

 

 

Gove and Future Farm Support

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, the DEFRA Secretary, Michael Gove, has provided some clarity around the future of farm support.

It is becoming increasingly clear that, as we speculated last month, whilst the UK is in the (two year) ‘transition period’ the rules of the CAP will continue to apply.  Therefore, assuming that the transition is agreed and we do not simply crash-out of the EU on the 30th March 2019, the BPS will continue to apply in the UK for both the 2019 and 2020 year.

The 2021 year seems a grey area.  A full two-year transition would take the timing into March 2021 and it is likely that the BPS would apply once more.  However, there are noises within the EU that the transition should end on 30th December 2020 to fit in with the EU Budget periods.  If this is the case, the UK might move to a domestic agricultural policy at this point.

Whilst operating under the rules of the CAP, there is little scope for the UK to change the support system in the short term.  However, MR Gove has indicated that he wants to see BPS payments to the largest recipients ‘capped’ (which is allowed under existing EU rules).  This would not happen for the 2019 year, but would be introduced for 2020 onwards.  Of course, the devil is in the detail when it comes to capping – thresholds and rates have not been set.  A cap at the equivalent of €300,000 (as currently operates Wales) would not affect many claimants, but one set at the National Living Wage certainly would.  A ‘Command Paper’ will be published ‘later this spring’ which should set out the proposed plans for farm support and be subject to consultation.  Note that the level of capping is a devolved matter so this proposal only applies to the English BPS.

Mr Gove stated that there should be a ‘five year period’ after BPS 2019 to allow farmers to adjust to a new regime.  This suggest a BPS-like area payment would continue until 2024 and after that, any payment would only be for ‘public goods’.  However, claimants should not necessarily conclude that the BPS in its current form, and at its current level will be around until 2024.  Firstly, MR Gove indicated that, once outside of the restrictions of the CAP (2021 or 2022) rules such a Greening and Cross-compliance could be ditched.  Against this positive, we believe that payment rates will taper down in the period 2021 to 2024 in order to ‘wean’ farmers off direct payments, and to free-up funds for other programmes.  To summarise all this (assuming a transition deal with Europe is agreed);

  • 2019: BPS – same rules as now
  • 2020:  BPS, but with capping – detailed rules awaited
  • 2021: likely to be as per 2020, but could first year of British Agricultural Policy
  • 2022: almost certainly BAP (unless transition period is extended) – phasing down of Direct Payments likely to start (capping still in place)
  • 2023 and 2024: phasing continues as new ‘public goods’ schemes begin to be rolled-out
  • 2025: no more direct support

Other headline points from the speech include;

  • a guarantee that no one entering into the existing Countryside Stewardship Scheme will be unfairly disadvantaged in any transition to new arrangements
  • a commitment to simplify the CSS application process so that it can be completed in a working day
  • a new food standards measure to promote best practice and assist in marketing UK produce at home and abroad
  • changing procurement rules to help get more British food into public institutions and improving diets to reduce health issues

The full text of Mr Gove’s speech can be found at – https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/farming-for-the-next-generation

BPS Updates for England

Payments

Michael Gove has reported that 91% of claimants received their 2017 BPS payment by the end of December.  We do, however, know that due to outstanding issues with 2015 and 2016 claims a number of 2017 payments will also be incorrect.  Added to that, the Proactive Land Change Detection (PLCD) mapping updates that the RPA has been carrying out may also mean that payments are not correct and therefore must be checked carefully.

Where a payment is believed to be incorrect because of issues that have already been reported to the RPA for 2015 and 2016 it should not be necessary to raise these again; the 2017 payment should be looked at as part of the outstanding Post Payment Adjustment work.  But if the issue is just for 2017, a Payment Query Form should be submitted.  Claim Statements, once again, will not contain individual parcel information and it is therefore difficult to check where the differences are.  But if Applicants or Agents log onto the Rural Payments online service and scroll down to ‘Basic Payment Scheme Applications’ and then click on ‘View a Previous BPS Claim’ and generate a new summary, this will show the most update land and entitlement information and that which the RPA has used to generate the payment.  If this is used to compare with a copy of the submitted claim it should show up any differences.

Entitlements and Land Transfers

The online entitlement and land transfer functionality is expected to be available from the end of January/beginning of February.  It is of course possible to carry out these transfers using a paper RLE1 form, but if possible it is better to wait until the online transfer facility is re-opened.  This is because RLE1s are not always processed until after the claim deadline, whereas the online functionality is practically done in real-time and you receive an acknowledgement.  The deadline for entitlements to be transferred for use in the 2018 scheme year is 15th May 2018.

Welsh BPS Updates

Changes to Land

In Wales, the Field Management (FM4) paper forms used to to report changes to land have been replaced.  ‘Manage My Land’ on the RPW Online system should now be used instead of the paper forms.  Any changes to land should be submitted via ‘Manage My Land’ within 30 days of the change taking place.

Entitlements

The transfer of BPS entitlements can be made via the forms available on applicants’ RPW Online account.  The notification deadline of transfers for entitlements to be available for the 2018 scheme year is 30th April in Wales.

Woodland Creation Grant

The Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation Grant is now open for applications.  This is a standalone capital grant under the CSS.  Applicants can choose from a range of capital items.  TE4 – the supply and planting of trees (£1.28 per tree) is mandatory.  Other items associated with protecting the trees are optional.  Farmers and landowners can apply for a one off payment of up to £6,800 per hectare.  They then have two years to carry out all the capital items.  There is also the possibility of a Maintenance Grant of £200/Ha for a further 10 years.  Although with Brexit it is not entirely clear how this will work, as you cannot apply for the Maintenance Grant until the final claim has been paid for the Woodland Creation Capital Agreement.  This Maintenance Grant is applied for through the Higher Tier of the Countryside Stewardship.

The closing date for initial applications is 16th February 2018.  This gives the Forestry Commission time to make a site visit and make any adjustments to the application before the final deadline of 31st May 2018.  Agreements should be offered from July 2018 onward.  Further information can be found in the latest manual at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/645380/cs-woodland-creation-manual-2018.pdf

Brexit Sector Analyses

The House of Commons Brexit Committee has finally published impact assessments on how 39 sectors of the UK economy will be affected by leaving the EU.  Readers may recall a large fuss about whether the studies actually existed (David Davies seemed to change his mind on this a few times) and whether they should be published.   Although they are now in the public domain, it probably wasn’t worth waiting for.  If the agriculture and food paper (which can be found at – https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/Exiting-the-European-Union/17-19/Sectoral%20Analyses/2-Sectoral-Analyses-Agriculture-Report.pdf) is anything to go by, they are merely a compilation of existing statistics and summaries of the current situation.  Any detail on how the sector will actually be impacted by Brexit is either redacted or has not been produced.

 

BPS Payment Update

The RPA has announced that, as at the 20th December, 84% of claimants had received their 2017 BPS.  This equates to around 71,000 businesses receiving some £1.3bn.  Payments will continue to be made through to the end of the month, with the target still to get 90% of claims paid by this point.

BPS 2017 Payment Progress

The RPA has announced it paid 63% of eligible BPS claimants in England between 1st and 6th of December.  The announcement was not made until 7th December; usually a statement is made within a couple of days.  Interestingly the RPA is not quoting payments in terms of total funds which makes the sceptics among us think that payments have been made to smaller claimants.  Certainly many Agents, who tend to deal with larger claims, don’t recognise the 60% figure among their client base.   But the RPA has said payments have been made to a range of claim types; different sizes as well as those that have been inspected and those with Common Land.  It appears this year that payments will be made at more regular intervals throughout the month, which may explain why the first announcement was covering a few days, rather than just day one.  The agency remains committed to pay at least 90% of eligible claimants by the end of December.

In Wales, 91% of BPS claimants were paid on the first day of the payment window (1st December – 30th June) and RPA Wales has said it is committed to paying the remaining 9% as soon as possible.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland payments commenced earlier.  The Scottish Government has again made a National Loan Scheme available.  Loan offers have been made to nearly 17,500 farmers and crofters, with 13,129 being paid by 30th November.  The loan is worth approximately 70% of the estimated total claim; balance payments will be made between March and June.  For those who have not already taken up the loan offer, it is still possible to apply.  Northern Ireland took up the EU’s offer of making advanced payments and 91% of eligible claimants received 70% of their BPS claim value in October.  Balance or full payments are now being made and the commitment is to make full or balance payments to 95% of claimants by the end of December.

LFASS Payments

Farmers and crofters will receive more through LFASS payments for 2018 than expected.  The Scottish Government has confirmed that hill farmers will receive 100% of their 2017 payment in 2018 rather than the 80% that was previously announced.

Readers will recall that under EU rules 2017 was supposed to be the last year that the current LFASS  would have been able to operate, as the EU is moving to new ‘Areas with Natural Constraints’ classification.  However, the Scottish Government took up the option to keep the scheme and make ‘parachute payments’ which effectively allowed it to make payments of 80% of those received in 2017 for the 2018 year.  But following a decision by Brussels to defer any LFA changes until 2019, farmers and crofters will now receive 100% of their payment.