Category: Policy & Business

The Welsh Government has given more detail to farmers as to which schemes which will be available in 2025.  Readers will recall, back in May the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, announced that the introductiona of the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) in Wales would be delayed by one year and would now commence in 2026 (see article https://abcbooks.co.uk/sfs-delayed-wales/).  He also stated that, during 2025, there would be a Sustainable Farming Scheme Preparatory Phase of Activity.  Speaking ahead of the Royal Welsh Show, he announced that the 2025 Preparatory Phase will include a number of schemes which will provide ‘advice and support’ to farmers in advance of the introduction of SFS.  The Schemes include:

• Habitat Wales Scheme – originally an interim scheme which was only going to be available in 2024 to plug the gap between the end of Glastir agreements and the start of the SFS.  This will now be offered again in 2025 with all eligible farmers able to apply
• Existing Habitat Wales Scheme Commons – agreements can be extended for 2025
• The Organic Support Payment – again only supposed to be for one year but will be maintained for 2025, supports existing organic producers
• Farming Connect – an extension to 2026, continuing the knowledge transfer and innovation support on farms
• Integrated Natural Resources Scheme – a new scheme which will support ‘farmer-focussed partnerships’ delivering nature-based solutions across a landscape, catchment or on a pan-Wales scale.  It will continue the transition to a new way of supporting farmers and the vital work they do ahead of the introduction of SFS Collaborative Actions’.

A data confirmation exercise is also being launched.  No date has been given for this but, as farmers who wish to apply for Habitat Wales Scheme (HWS) 2025 are being encouraged to complete the data confirmation exercise, we expect it shortly.  It appears this will be voluntary.  However, feedback from farmers who decide to participate in the exercise will provide a more accurate picture of the habitat and tree cover across their farm in preparation for HWS 2025 and the introduction of SFS.

Of course, the scheme of most interest to the majority of Welsh farmers in 2025 will be the BPS.  Although not yet confirmed, it is beleived tht there will be few, if any, rule changes for next year.  The main unknown will be the level of payments.  This will be determined by the new agricultural budget settlement, which the new Westminister administration will be working on over the next few months as part of the wider Spending Review.  

The Planning Advisory Service (PAS) has made available a range of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) templates.  The PAS, a branch of the Local Government Association, has commissioned solicitors, Dentons to create a suite of sample agreements that cover the various ways of securing biodiversity gains allowed for under the Environment Act.  The templates which can be found via https://www.local.gov.uk/pas/environment/biodiversity-net-gain-bng-local-planning-authorities/pas-biodiversity-net-gain-bng are being provided for Local Authority Planners and their legal teams so they can modify them to suit their situation.  The hope is that the templates, which are not compulsory, will provide a ‘streamlined approach, enhancing efficiency in drafting agreements, and benefiting all stakeholders involved’.

The new Labour administration set out its legislative priorities in the King’s Speech on 17th July.  Over 35 potential Bills were announced.  Boosting economic growth by easing Planning rules was the centrepiece of the programme.  A Planning and Infrastructure Bill will be introduced which aims to ‘speed up and streamline the planning
process to build more homes of all tenures and accelerate the delivery of major infrastructure projects’.  This may well include provisions to limit the valuation of land where it is compulsorily purchased.  The new Government is already showing its priorities under existing powers.  Three large-scale solar farms have been approved in England, totalling 6,500 acres of farmland, which had been waiting for a Ministerial decision.  There had been strong local opposition to all three.

The tranisiton to clean energy is wider theme of the new Government.  A Bill will be enacted to set up GB Energy, a company headquartered in Scotland, that aims to accelerate investment in renewable energy.  There will be increased protection for workers (and possibly cost for employers) under a new Employment Rights Bill.  A Renters Rights bill will give greater rights to tenants in England, including ending section 21 notices to quit.  New legislation will strengthen the powers of the water regulator – partly to improve water quality in rivers.  There will also be an English Devolution Bill aiming to pass power from Whitehall to the regions – but seemingly requiring Councils to come together in larger adminsitrative units.

 

Defra has released figures for English farm profits.  These show a slightly different picture to the UK figures we reported on last month (see https://abcbooks.co.uk/farm-profits-4/).  In real terms, Total Income from Farming (TIFF) fell by 23% between 2022 and 2023 – from £5.87bn to £4.54bn.  This compares to the 16% drop seen in the UK figures.  It is closer to the sort of reduction we were forecasting for 2023.  The main reason for the reduction was lower crop output.  Sales in the livestock sector were relatively unchanged with a drop in milk values being offset by an increase in poultry income.  There was a small decrease in costs – mainly driven by the lower price of fertiliser.  The full statistics can be found at – https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/total-income-from-farming-in-england/total-income-from-farming-in-england-in-2023.

Following its landslide victory in the General Election on 4th July, the new Labour administration is starting to bed-in.

In farming terms, the Shadow Defra team have been installed into Ministerial posts – meaning there should be little need for them to get up-to-speed on policy issues.  Steve Reed has become Defra Secretary of State and Daniel Zeichner has a junior position as Minister of State.  Although roles have not yet been allocted, it seems highly likely that Mr Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, will be in charge of the farming portflio as he was in the Shadow Cabinet.  Other Defra Ministers are Emma Hardy, MP for Kingston upon Hull West and Baroness Hayman of Ullock.  Steve Barclay currently retains the Defra brief in Rishi Sunak’s new Shadow Cabinet.

The King’s Speech, where the new Government will set out its initial priorities, will take place on 17th July.  However, Mr Reed, MP for Streatham and Croydon North, has already set out his five priorities for Defra;

• to clean up rivers, lakes and seas
• to move Britain to a zero-waste economy
• to boost food security
• to ensure nature’s recovery
• to protect communities from the dangers of flooding

At present, there is little flesh on the bones of these priorities.  The Labour Manifesto was notably silent on specific commitments to farming.

In the short-term, the most important announcements for rural areas from the new Government are likely to relate to changes in Planning policy.  The Planning system has been identified as a major barrier to the economic growth that is central to Labour’s plans.  The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has set out a number of policy initiatives in this area (mostly relating to England);

• the end to the de facto ban on onshore wind
• reinstating mandatory housebuilding targets for Local Authorities (however, as many of these targets were never met in the past, it will be interesting to see what practical effect this has)
• the recruitment of 300 new Planning Officers to help reduce the backlog of applications
• prioritising energy infrastructure, with decisions being made in relation to the national interest (including the effect on growth) rather than just local considerations

There will be a Budget in the autumn, with the date set before Parliament rises for the summer.

Three of the main carbon calculators for farming have agreed to harmonise their methodologies.  The Farm Carbon Toolkit, Cool Farm Alliance CIC, and Agrecalc will work towards a common minimum standard.  Each calculator could still produce a different answer in terms of emissions (the companies state there is no ‘right answer’), but they will use the same sources of base data and make it easier to see why differences occur.  The move comes in response to a report undertaken by ADAS for Defra on the Harmonisation of Carbon Accounting Tools (see https://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/ProjectDetails?ProjectId=20967%0A).   More details on the harmonisation routemap, including a webinar in the autumn can be found at – https://farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk/2024/06/19/three-major-farm-carbon-calculators-outline-a-roadmap-to-harmonisation/ .

The Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill was passed into law by the Scottish Parliament on 18th June.  Royal Assent is expected shortly.  This Act provides the powers for the Scottish Government to run its new farm support system, plus some other legislative changes (see https://abcbooks.co.uk/scottish-agriculture-bill/ for more details).  As a ‘framework’ Bill, the passing of the legislation does not provide any more detail on future support plans – it merely provides the legislative base. 

The main political parties have set out their rural policies ahead of Election Day on July 4th.  Below is a brief summary of some key points.

Conservatives:

• a pledge to increase the agricultural budget for the UK by £1bn over the course of the next Parliament (given a five-year Parliamentary term, simplistically this means an extra £200m per year).  This compares with the ask of the NFU for an extra £2bn per year.
• introduce a legally-binding target to improve the nation’s food secturity – although it is not clear what this means in practice
• improve the process for granting Planning Permission for farm infrastructure (slurry stores, reservoirs etc.)
• retain capital tax benefits such as Agricultural and Business Property reliefs

The full document is at – https://public.conservatives.com/static/documents/GE2024/Conservative-Manifesto-GE2024.pdf 

Labour:

• no specific commitment on future funding for farming and the environment
• set a target that half of all food procured by the public sector should be locally-produced or have high environmental credentials
• reform the Planning system to boost housebuilding
• create three new National Forests in England and also nine new ‘River Walks’
• implement new workers’ rights legislation

See https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Labour-Party-manifesto-2024.pdf 

Liberal Democrats:

• an extra £1bn per year on the agricultural budget for the UK
• introducing a National Food Strategy and strengthening the role of the Groceries Adjudicator
• negotiate a new arrangements with the EU on veterinary and plant health to improve trade
• allowing Local Councils to buy land for housing at ‘agricultural’ rather than ‘development’ value

See https://www.libdems.org.uk/manifesto

The Scottish National Party is due to launch its manifesto this week (w/c 17th June).  Plaid Cymru’s manifesto can be found at https://assets.nationbuilder.com/plaid2016/pages/10962/attachments/original/1718214059/Plaid_Cymru_Maniffesto_2024_ENGLISH.pdf?1718214059 and the Green Party’s at https://greenparty.org.uk/about/our-manifesto/fairer-greener-food-and-farming/.

 

Details of the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2024 offer are now available (see earlier article for more details).  A controlled roll out via Expressions of Interest is currently taking place with the scheme expected to open to all later in the summer.  To assist farmers and their advisors with understanding what will be accessible we have produced a 4-page SFI Factsheet giving a summary of all the actions that will be available.

Click Here to access our 2024 SFI Factsheet or it can be found via the Bulletins tab at the top of the page.

UK farming made surprisingly good profits in 2023 according to Defra.  The Department has recently released figures for Total Income from Farming (TIFF) – this is the aggregate profit for the whole UK farming and horticultural sector.  The headline figure is that profits fell 16% in real terms between 2022 and 2023, but last year’s figures still came in at a very healthy £7.2bn – the third highest returns in the past 25 years.

The Defra figure for 2023 is much higher than we had been predicting.  We had estimated that profits for the year would fall to around £5bn.  Part of the reason is a sizeable upwards revision for the 2022 year (from 7.9bn to £8.6bn).  This results in the 2023 figure being higher.  There is a history of quite large revisions in the TIFF figures – we would not be surpised if those for the past year were amended in due course as well.

Both crop output and livestock output were down in 2023 compared to 2022 – by 16% and 7% respectively in real terms.  (Both of these drops were lower than we had forecasted).  Variable costs (called ‘intermediate consumption’ in these figures) showed a surpising drop of 9% year-on-year.  The fall was wholly due to a big drop in the value of animal feed consumed on farm.

The chart below shows the evolution (in real terms) of TIFF over the past 25 years.  TIFF shows the return to all entrepreneurs for their management, labour and capital invested.  In simplistic terms, it is the profit of ‘UK Agriculture Plc’.  Also shown on the chart is the contribution of direct support (BPS plus agri-environment scheme payments).  This has declined in recent years as inflation has eroded its real terms value.  However, it continues to contribute a sizeable proportion of farm profits

Given our belief the 2023 figures might be revised downwards somewhat, our estimate for the current 2024 year is for a TIFF (in real terms) around the £6bn mark.  We would expect costs to rise as inflation continues to work its way through the system.  Harvest 2024 looks set to deliver low yields and unspectacular prices.  In contrast, most livestock sectors are currently having a reasonable year.  TIFF at this level would be very much in the normal range seen over the past few years – discounting the very good returns of the past three years.

The data on farm incomes (profits) comes from Defra’s annual publication ‘Agriculture in the UK’.  This compendium of statstics includes data on all aspects of the food and farming sector.  Full details can be found at – https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/agriculture-in-the-united-kingdom