A recent report has found farmers would like researchers to investigate the impact on farming of Artificial Intelligence, methane, carbon sequestration, regenerative systems, financing and anti microbial resistance. The report, which was written by the Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture (CEIA) in collaboration the NFU, Innovate UK and Elizabeth Creak (Charitable Trust) acknowledges that while some research priorities have remained the same since the last review in 2013, such as disease control and soil health, these new priorities have come to the fore. The full report can be found at https://www.nfuonline.com/media/tfgpgsxm/farmer-research-priorities-report-2024.pdf. The report is published at the same time as four Competitions under Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme have been put on hold, pending the Spending Review Process. The Funding Futures R & D (phase 2), Small R & D Partnerships (Round 4), Feasibility Studies (Round 4) and the Futures R & D – Net Zero Farming were all supposed to be opening this autumn ( see https://farminginnovation.ukri.org/).
The UK government has appointed Ruth Davis OBE as the first Special Representative for Nature. Ms Davis previously advised the Government when it hosted COP26 and has worked for the RSPB and Plantlife. Ms Davis will begin her role at the end of October and will attend the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP16 meeting in Colombia, (which is currently underway), in her current role as an advocate for nature, working alongside the UK delegation led by Environment Secretary, Steve Reed. This is a joint role between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and Defra.
The RPA has confirmed the temporary adjustments to agri-environment agreements because of the wet weather do not (currently) apply to agreements that started on or after 1st August 2024. Back in May, RPA announced some adjustments where farmers have had difficulty carrying out the requirements of their Agri-environment agreements due to the wet weather. These refer to Countryside Stewardship (CS), Environmental Stewardship (ES), Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and SFI Pilot agreements. In general, RPA is allowing more time to establish some options. The start of these temporary adjustments took effect from 1 October 2023, because of the bad weather last autumn but ended on 31st July 2024. This means for agreements starting after 31st July, actions have to be adhered to within the first 12 months of the action’s duration. It remains to be seen if there will be any adjustments this year.
As always, farmers are advised to keep evidence such as:
farm records showing field operations at a land parcel level
associated invoices and photographs of how the options and action have been affected by the weather conditions and how attempts have been carried out to try and carry out agreement requirements.
Dan Corry has been appointed to carry out an internal review into the regulation and regulators at Defra. The review will examine whether the current regulatory landscape is ‘fit for purpose’ and develop recommendations to ensure that regulation across the Department is ‘driving economic growth while protecting the environment’.
The review will explore:
Whether Defra regulators are equipped to drive economic growth, secure private sector investment and protect the environment
The customer and stakeholder experience of regulation, including the impact on those who are regulated
The efficiency of regulation, in particular whether the current regulatory landscape involves any duplication and/or contradiction, and whether there are opportunities to make improvements.
Dan Corry has been an adviser in many Government departments where he was involved in regulatory reform. Furthermore, he previously served as Head of the No10 Policy Unit under former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
With delinking, English entitlements have disappeared (and thus have a nil value). The loss of the capital value can be offset against other gains for Capital Gains Tax. This is only the case where entitlements were purchased (or inherited) – either on their own or part of an overall land transaction. In the former case, there will be an actual purchase value to work from. However, if the entitlements were ‘bundled’ into a land purchase or inheritance, the value may not be known. We have had some questions on historic capital values of entitlements. If anyone would like the data, please contact us.
The Welsh Government is consulting on its proposal to designate a new National Park. This is planned to be a similar area to the existing Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). This lies to the west of Wrexham and runs from Llangollen down to the sea at Prestatyn. The consultation runs until the 16th December and can be found at – https://ymgynghori.cyfoethnaturiol.cymru/north-east-gogledd-ddwyrain/new-national-park-proposal-information-page-wales/ .
The Defra Secretary has promised that the much-delayed Land Use Framework for England will be published shortly. Speaking on the Farming Today programme on the 24th Septmber, Steve Reed, promised that a three-month consultation on the document will be opened ‘before Christmas’.
The UK government has indefinitely postponed the introduction of ‘Not for EU’ labels on meat and dairy products sold across Great Britain. These were due to be introduced next month. This delay follows concerns raised by industry stakeholders about the estimated £250 million annual cost to businesses, stemming from packaging changes and related operational impacts.
The policy emerged as a result of the agreement that the Conservative Government struck with the EU last year to manage meat and dairy trade from GB to Northern Ireland (NI). Some products were deemed as being ‘high risk’ by the EU and which could find their way into the Republic of Ireland, thus potentially affecting the EU Single Market and its associated biosecurity standards. This deal known as the Windsor Framework and the associated ‘Not for EU’ labelling was originally implemented in Northern Ireland from October 2023. In a bid to allay DUP concerns, the Conservatives opted to roll out the ‘not for EU’ labelling across the UK. But the recent Labour announcement has shelved these plans.
Agri-food businesses and trade associations will generally welcome the news although some organisations have already introduced ‘not for EU’ labelling in the ‘white space’ on the labels for food products where it can be done relatively cost effectively. That said, there will be some frustration regarding the sunk costs which would already have invested to prepare for the change and the uncertainty that such late announcements create. Businesses would much prefer greater lead times so that they can appropriately plan for such changes.
Defra has released statistics on farm business management practices. The information comes from the Farm Business Survey (FBS) and relates to the 2022/23 survey year. It shows there has been a slight improvement in the proportion of businesses undertaking management practices since the last such survey in 2016/17. However, the improvement has been quite modest. The table below summarises the findings.
It can be seen that, by far, the most common management practice is to have an ‘informal plan’. It is unclear what the definition of this is (it appears to be self-selected by respondents). It may not be contributing much to improved business performance, however. Elsewhere in the publication there are statsitcs that compared economic performance of farms with the practices they undertake. In almost all cases better performance is correlated with the uptake of management practices. The exception is the Informal Plan category where high, medium and low performers all have an uptake of around 60%.
As the data comes from the FBS, it is unsurprising that a high percentage of farms take part in FBS benchmarking. The drop in Other benchmarking since 2016/17 is likely to be a result of the demise of AHDB benchmarking services.
The big question in terms of farm support over the next few months is how much funding there will be for 2025 and beyond. The process by which we find out is unclear. By reading various statements from the Treasury, we believe the timetable is as follows;
the Budget on 30th October will set Departmental spending for 2025/26, including Defra’s. This may also cover ‘in-year’ adjustments for the 2024/25 year, including any clawback of unspent Defra funds for other purposes
soon after (or concurrently), Defra shoudl then provide the Agriculture budget for the 2025 BPS year and BPS deductions for 2025 in England
a comprehensive Spending Review will conclude in spring next year. This will be for a minimum of three years (for 2026/27 to 2028/29) so would cover support years 2026 to 2028 – through to the end of the Agricultural Transition
We will, of course, keep you updated on any developments.
