Defra has announced the ‘vast majority’ of English farmers should receive their advance BPS payment on 1st August. The remainder will be made in December. Advance payments should be 50% of the total annual Basic Payment due. Last year was the first time part-payments were made and these started in July, continuing through August, but […]
A number of capital grants in England have been flagged-up as opening in the next few months. Farmers, and their advisors, may wish to prepare for these – especially in terms of starting the process of applying for Planning and any other permits. Details are below. Calf Housing Grant This is a new scheme that […]
Defra has recently put out a Press Release announcing £110m worth of funding available to support rural businesses and community groups between 2023 and 2025. This is not actually ‘new’ money, as it was announced last autumn (see our article from September 2022 https://abcbooks.co.uk/rural-funding-boost/). But it is a timely reminder that there will be support […]
It is now possible to transfer land and entitlements online in England in readiness for this year’s BPS applications. Claimants have until 16th May (the 15th is a Sunday) to complete the transactions. It is also possible to ‘add land by email’ now; useful where land cannot be transferred online. The email should include: ‘Add […]
The Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) will open in Scotland on Monday 24th January 2022. For most applications the closing date will be 29th April 2022, although there are few exceptions; collaborative applications will have until 31st May 2022 stand-alone slurry store applications have until Friday 24th June 2022 – these options could help farmers prepare […]
Defra received 938 applications for the SFI Pilot. Whilst this is down on the 2,000 farmers who expressed an interest, Defra is pleased with the overall numbers which apparently provide a good spread of farm types, sizes and locations. Applications will be contacted over the next few weeks once their agreements are ‘live’ on the […]
The Environment Agency (EA) has released a Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) on the application of organic manure this autumn. Under the Farming Rules for Water (Rule 1), when organic manure is applied to agricultural land, the application must not exceed the needs of the soil or crop on the land and must not give rise […]
Details of the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme have been made available by Defra. The FiPL is one of the elements of the Agricultural Transition in England. It will support farmers and the wider community in National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the Broads. Land outside of protected landscapes may […]
Zones for 2021-2024 The Environment Agency has concluded its four yearly review of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) and has recommended the zones should remain the same for the period 2021-2024. Defra will contact farmers in writing to confirm this. Grassland Derogations for 2021 The Environment Agency (EA) has said it will try and process grassland […]
Sugar beet producers should receive a 2.6p per tonne bonus in December. The average EU + UK sugar price in September was €376 per tonne. Although down €2 per tonne from August, this still sees the one-year contract bonus triggered for 2019/20 (2019 crop). This is the first time the market mechanism will have been […]