News

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 16th March 2023 We see growing competition for the use of land with agriculture, itself likely to be on the Missing from the Budget Speech but buried in the accompanying papers, the Treasury has issued an important consultation and call for evidence on major taxation issues for farming, environmental matters and the management and use of rural land. Opening up important questions, the paper covers: the taxation...

The House of Commons Library, which, among other things, provides 'politically impartial analysis and statistics' to Members of Parliament and their staff, has published an overview of the changes to farm payments in the UK: CBP-9431.pdf (parliament.uk). This briefing includes extracts from policy announcements, enabling legislation and stakeholder views.

Following engagement from the CAAV and others, DEFRA has published updated guidance lifting the funding limits for Countryside Stewardship Capital Grant agreements. Previously, there was a cap of £20,000 for each of the 4 action groups. Published on 8th March, the new guidance states: There is no limit on either the maximum amount for any application or the amount you can apply for in each of the 4 groups (boundaries, trees and orchards, water quality air quality and natural flood...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 2nd March 2023 Eggs and then tomatoes have long been features of the rougher end of political debate but the new shortage of tomatoes might now make a sharper political point than the travails of the egg sector. In the shifting debates over food security, supplies have continued to reach shop shelves. The supply chain was seen to perform well in managing and adapting to the early days of the pandemic. However, rising food...

DEFRA has today published on its blog a run-through of the one-off grants available to farmers in 2023. The does not include capital grants under the Countryside Stewardship scheme. The post can be found here: Grants available in 2023 - Farming (blog.gov.uk). A wider look at payments available to farmers and land managers, including agri-environment schemes, can be found in this DEFRA brochure: Farming is Changing (blog.gov.uk)....

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 24th February 2023 With the Government now apparently stabilised after the events of 2022, decisions are coming steadily. Following January’s news on the English schemes for 2023 and 2024 with payment rates and the Environmental Improvement Plan, more news on productivity grants was given at the NFU AGM and then the long awaited policy development on biodiversity net gain was issued. We await much else including detail for...

The Foundation for Common Land have published on their website guidance - checked by the Rural Payments Agency - on Higher Level Stewardship agreement extensions on common land. The note is available here: https://foundationforcommonlan....

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 16th February 2023 Aid and regulation, stick and carrot, are Government’s main tools for achieving its statutory and demanding environmental targets, confirmed in December and affirmed by the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023. DEFRA January prospectus for the schemes offered in 2023 and 2024 shows us the aid and the carrot. We should not forget that role of regulations and the stick, becoming more potent as we near the...

This article by Jeremy Moody first appeared in the CAAV e-Briefing of 9th February 2023 While it seems conventional to criticise a lack of policy development, that cannot be said of the areas with which we work. The policies of the Agricultural Transition Plan were further fleshed out last month. The Environment Act, last week’s Environmental Improvement Plan and the current Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill all lay out major programmes of work. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has finally...

DEFRA has today (7th February) opened the application window for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier agreements. The full guidance and more detail can be found online: Higher Tier grants 2023: Countryside Stewardship - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). For more background detail on government schemes for 2023 and 2024, see our website note of 26th January....

Landscape Recovery is DEFRA's scheme for radical, landscape scale and long-term nature restoration and creation. For more background detail, see our website note of 6th January 2022. Round 2 of the Scheme is to open in Spring 2023. In preparation, DEFRA are inviting those interested to join a series of webinars, where they will be providing information and seeking feedback from potential applicants. The webinars can be accessed at the following links: Thursday 23 February 8:00 – 9.30...