With the proposed Inheritance Tax Changes rightly taking centre stage at the moment, it is worrying that other policy developments are going unnoticed by the industry. Frighteningly, these are the ones that will create more immediate problems for farmers in the running of their daily businesses.
Firstly, DEFRA has suddenly, and without notice, closed 76 Capital Grants options, despite the scheme guidance itself stating that a six week notice period must be given prior to the closure. Although the TFA was aware of a quick review taking place, it is concerning that this has left the Scheme open to only a few, who have plans for larger Scheme applications, such as woodland management and Countryside Stewardship Higher-Tier application development.
Whether the suspended items, such as hedge laying, fencing and concrete yard renewal will come back into the scheme in the future is yet to be seen. DEFRA at no point consulted with the industry about the removal of this funding.
DEFRA is also dragging its heels on the new Higher-Tier scheme, which although we have been promised in the new year, we don’t expect it will be available until summer 2024. By the time they “test” the scheme through the inevitable “Express of Interest” route, it would be safe to assume the Scheme will not be open fully until autumn 2025.
Farmers currently in a Higher-Tier or Higher-Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme will now be offered a mirror agreement. This is to ensure there is no gap in their funding, while the new scheme is being established.
However, closing a mirror agreement early will result in a repayment of money. Despite the industry being constantly reassured by DEFRA officials that nobody will be prohibited for accessing new schemes, these farmers in historic agreements, are now being held captive. This is a utter betrayal of the promises made to farmers at the beginning of the agricultural transition process and only portrays DEFRA as untrustworthy and unreliable.
Furthermore, DEFRA seems to conveniently keep forgetting about farmers on common land who STILL cannot enter the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) other than to assess the Moorland. This leaves them with little, to no options, to choose from. And while this is all going on, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is starting to implement the accelerated reduce of your delinked payment in 2025 by at least 76%.
Quite frankly, at the moment, as the rain hammers down, the policy arena is like being stuck in flood water – you can’t go forward and you can’t go back, you are just stuck.
To read more about the current farm schemes on offer in England, TFA members can click here.
To read the official DEFRA guidance on Capital Grants in England, click here.
