Clearing the path ahead for English farmers
“The Path to Sustainable Farming: An Agricultural Transition Plan 2021 to 2024” illustrates our move away from area-based farm subsidies.
Details have emerged of the three components of the replacement Environmental Land Management schemes:
The Sustainable Farming Incentive – the base scheme offer. Available to all BPS claimants from 2022 to support farm husbandry approaches that deliver for the environment.
Local Nature Recovery – funding projects that create and restore habitats, manage flood risk and protect ecological habitat.
Landscape Recovery – funding projects that achieve large-scale forest and woodland creation, peatland restoration, creation of coastal habitats.
The new “Farming Investment Fund” will open later this year to support new equipment, technology, and infrastructure to deliver environmental and public benefits. A separate scheme, “Farming in Protected Landscapes”, will aid the transition from BPS for farmers through National Park authorities and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty bodies.
The current intention is for lump sum BPS payments to be available from 2022 which could allow an exiting farmer to take all annual transitional BPS payments from the land. The delinking of the claim from the farming activity could start from 2024.
A Countryside Stewardship contract could help bridge between the two schemes. Please contact us to discuss a 2021 application.
Edward Page of David Meade Property Consultants
