Category: Policy & Business

Seasonal Workers Scheme Extended

The Government has announced that the Seasonal Worker Scheme will be extended for a further five years to 2029.  Visas issued will be at current levels which means 43,000 per year will be available for the horticultural sector with a further 2,000 allocated to poultry.  The industry has generally welcomed the announcement, as it allows for longer-term planning rather than the previous year-by-year decisions.  There has been some criticism that the scheme only addresses seasonal labour issues and there is still a fundamental shortage of permanent labour in the farming and food sectors.  

The announcement was made ahead of the Prime Minister’s now annual Farm-to-Fork summit at Downing Street (see https://abcbooks.co.uk/food-summit/ for details of last year’s gathering).  This year’s meeting is scheduled for the 14th May.

Infrastructure Support: Wales

The Welsh Government has announced it will be opening two schemes to support investment to prevent on-farm pollution from slurry and silage.  Both the Nutrient Management Investment Scheme (NMIS) and the Small Grants – Yard Coverings will open shortly.  In total, there will be £20m available through the schemes, with certain project costs receiving a maximum contribution of 50%; increased from 40% from when the schemes were previously open.

The full details for each scheme are expected shortly, but previously the NMIS supported capital investments in both infrastructure and in equipment and machinery that address the impact of on-farm pollution – the storage of silage, slurry and oil.  Grants of between £12,000 and £50,000 were available.  The Small Grants – Yard Coverings grant previously provided funding, up to a maximum grant of £12,000 and a minimum of £3,000 for equipment that had been pre-identified to separate rainwater and slurry from areas such as livestock feeding and gathering areas, manure storage areas and slurry/silage stores.

The Small Grants – Yard Covering scheme will open from 20th May – 28th June 2024.  The NMIS will open from 15th July until 23rd August.

The package of measures is part of the commitment under the Co-operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru, to help farmers comply with The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021.  In response to the prolonged period of wet weather, the new Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, recently chaired an ‘Extreme Weather Summit’ with key agricultural partners to discuss its impact on farmers and growers.  He heard of ‘significant issues in relation to slurry storage capacity’.  Anecdotal evidence reports Natural Resources Wales appear to have had a shock at how few farmers are fully compliant with these new regulations.

SFI and Countryside Stewardship Areas

Defra have published data showing the area that had been entered into each Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) action, as at 1st April 2024.  The data set also shows the area in specific Entry Level and Higher-Level Stewardship Schemes, although these are being progressively wound down.

This data covers the 13,900 SFI 2023 agreements, and 3,200 SFI 2022 agreements which were live at that time.  With applications open year-round, the data will always be slightly behind the true figure, but we expect to see the area trends continue upwards as agreement numbers increase.  As of 29th April, 20,000 farmers had applied for an SFI agreement.  A total of just 94,000 hectares is being managed under the six actions which Defra the 25% area cap on (see https://abcbooks.co.uk/sfi-cap/ ).

Of the options which run across all farming systems, 1.6 million hectares of ground is in the Soil Management Planning Standard (SAM1).  For hedgerows, over 124 thousand kilometers are now being managed under SFI and CS.

For CS, there were 34,900 live agreements, up from 32,630 a year earlier.

Arable Land under Environmental Schemes

There is still 284,000 and 211,000 hectares of arable and horticultural land being managed under the SFI 2022 scheme Introductory and Intermediate offer respectively.  These agreements will end in June.

Under both SFI 2023 and CS there is a significant volume of land now being cover cropped.  This data is the clearest evidence yet of the volume of cover cropping taking place in the England.  With payments being made on a combined total of almost 195,000 hectares.  Additionally, 94,000 hectares are managed with companion cropping.

No use of insecticide (IPM4) looked set to be an attractive option for many arable farmers, and this appears to be reality, with 430k hectares due to be managed without insecticides.  This is just over 10% of the English arable area.

There has been significant concern about the volume of ‘food’ production that could be lost in the England, due to the attractiveness of ‘non-productive’ options.  However, the Defra data shows that relatively low levels of arable cropping has moved into such actions.  Under SFI around 124,000 hectares has been placed into land use change options including the rotational legume fallow (NUM3 – 51,000 hectares).  There is also a further 22,000 hectares-worth of increases in the Countryside Stewardship non-productive arable options.

That said, the data represents a snapshot in time, with continued challenges for spring drilling in parts of England there is still significant scope for more land to be placed into these options.  This is likely to be legume fallow, although the area may then fall in future years as the option is rotational and area can be reduced by half.

Grassland under Environmental Schemes

The most immediately noticeable element of the grassland figures is the relatively low uptake of the scheme in the uplands.  This indicates one of two things, either there were limited opportunities to carry out more than is already being delivered under ELS/HLS, or the offer did not provide enough of a financial incentive.  The uplands offer will improve with the 2024 round of SFI.

There was approaching 74,000 hectares of the Moorland Assessment Plan, and just over 13,000 hectares of low input grassland in SDAs.  In addition, 97,000 hectares was being managed under the 2022 scheme.  There are also increases in upland and SDA related CS options, as farms look to bring in more revenue as BPS payments fall or ELS/HLS agreements come to an end.  The total area of farmed LFA land in England is around 1.8m hectares.

For lowland grass, in SFI 26,000 hectares has been taken out of production (IGL1-IGL3).  In terms of productive management, 101,000 hectares has been placed into low input grassland, whilst 98,000 hectares has gone into NUM2 (legumes on improved grassland).

Future increases in area for grassland actions will undoubtedly be seen, especially if farmers become more confident in managing grassland according to the prescriptions of SFI, whilst maintain or enhancing productivity.

SFI 2024

This month (May) we are expecting Defra to publish the Handbook detailing what is required under the SFI 2024 scheme.  We then anticipate a phased rollout of the scheme from this summer.

The full dataset can be found at – https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cs-es-and-sfi-option-uptake-data-2024.  This will be an annual publication, and a further update will be extended after 1st April 2025.

Planning Changes

The Planning rules for agriculture in England have been relaxed.  This will make it easier to convert redundant farm buildings into dwellings, or for alternative uses.  It will also allow larger new farm buildings to be erected without full Planning Permission being required.

The changes come following a consultation last summer (see https://abcbooks.co.uk/planning-rules-relaxation/ for details).  They are enacted by ‘The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development etc.) (England) (Amendment) Order 2024‘ and apply from 21st May 2024.  In summary, the following changes have been made;

  • New Class Q:  Class Q gives the right to develop farm buildings (modern as well as traditional) into dwellings.  Class Q has been re-written in the new legislation.  The current size restrictions will be loosened and the ‘footprint’ of buildings will be able to be extended in some circumstances.  The conversion rights are extended to buildings that are only in part-agricultural use; those that are being used for diversifications (e.g. storage); and former agricultural buildings no longer on an agricultural unit.  In the original consultation, it was proposed that these rights would be extended to areas such as AONBs and National Parks which have, until now, been excluded from Class Q.  In the event, this has not happened.
  • Extending Class R:  this allows agricultural buildings to be converted into a ‘flexible commercial use’ – storage, distribution, hotels, offices or shops.  The rights are extended to allow for food processing and also leisure uses.  The maximum area that can be convereted under this Class has been raised to 1,000 sq m.
  • Increasing Agricultural Building Sizes:  Class A currently allows farm buildings of up to 1,000 sq m to be erected on holdings of over 5 Ha without a full Planning Application being required.  This is being raised to 1,500 sq m (but the limit for livestock buildings will remain at 1,000 sq m).

The full legislation can be found at – https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/579/contents/made

The original consultation also included a Call for Evidence on other Planning matters, including farm infrastructure, farm diversification and environmental works.  Decisions on any rule changes in these areas are still awaited.  

Water Resources Advice

A new service for farmers to help assess water resources has been launched.  The Environment Agency is offering a ‘screening service’ which will look at water resources in a local area and offer advice on how to make them more resilient.  Funding of £1.6m is available for the service.  Groups of two or more neighbouring farmers who currently abstract, or would like to abstract, water for irrigation or livestock husbandry can apply.  Applications from groups in water-stressed areas  will be prioritised.  The closing date for applications is midnight on 16th June.  For more details see – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-water-resources-options-screening-studies-how-to-apply

Crop Codes

Our article last month (see https://abcbooks.co.uk/bps-claims-2024/) reported that there is no action required in order to receive the delinked BPS payment in England.  However, we also reminded CS and ES revenue agreement holders that a revenue claim would be required by 15th May.  And in so doing, it has become clear, claimants will have to visit and update their land use codes on Rural Payments as part of this process.  Following a number of queries on this the RPA has said;

‘We have received a number of questions recently as to how we will be using land use codes as part of our process for cross-checking agri-environmental scheme applications and claims. We can confirm that we will be cross-checking applications and claims against land-use codes, as we have done in previous years when the information supplied in BPS applications was used for this purpose.  Accordingly, before submitting an application or payment claim, customers should check that the land use codes recorded for their land parcels are correct and consistent with the actions/options they are applying for or claiming on. Failure to do this may lead to processing delays and hold up payments.’

It appears that it will only be necessary to check the Land Use codes on relevant parcels – i.e. ones that are in the CS/ES claim.  It does however seem a bit ‘ad hoc’ and although no one really wants to being making ‘BPS type’ alterations, with the work and cost involved, there is the issue of whether clients’ Land Use will become muddled, with some fields updated for one year and not others.

In addition, cross checking also applies to SFI applications, where Land Cover, Land Use and SFI options must all be compatible.  The 2024 Land Use codes can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rural-payments-land-use-codes-2024/land-use-codes-2024

River Wye Action Plan

Defra has published an Action Plan to stop the decline in water quality of the River Wye and support the ongoing local efforts to fully restore it in the long term.  The plan includes nine commitments;

  • appoint a locally based ‘River Champion’ – this will be Anthea McIntyre, the former Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands and she will establish and lead a River Wye Taskforce. This body will develop a 5-10 year catchment plan, implement it, and deliver pilot projects
  • provide up to £35 million for poultry manure combustors in the River Wye Special Area of Conservation (SAC) catchment – a one-off trial which will convert manures into nutrient-rich, more easily transportable ash
  • amend, subject to consultation, the Environmental Permitting Regulations – to prohibit the export of manures to farms where this would result in excess application of nutrients for the needs of the soil and the crop
  • help farmers retain more nutrients and soil in the field with funding for sustainable farming practices – new SFI offers from summer 2024 will support the establishment of crops using no-till techniques and the precision application of crop nutrients and plant protection products.  There will also be premium SFI payment rates for a range of high-impact actions, including £1,182 per hectare for 3-dimensional waterbody buffer strips between 6 and 24 metres wide
  • pilot the use of on-farm micro anaerobic digesters – fund up to five on-farm micro anaerobic digestors (AD) for livestock farmers in the Wye catchment through Defra Farm Trials
  • more than double grant approvals for slurry stores – including approving 100% of round 2 applications to the Slurry Infrastructure Grant (SIG) made by those in the Wye catchment and streamline Natural England’s approach to Planning consultations for grant-funded projects
  • work with partners on two Landscape Recovery (LR) projects in the catchment – provide £1.5 million of development funding over the next two years to the Wyescapes and Wye Valley Ridge to River LR projects
  • provide funding for two projects delivered with local partners in the next finacial year – the Restoring our Rivers and Arrow Valley Diversity Project.
  • carry out cross-border research on mitigating phosphate pollution in the unique geography of the area

An Action Plan for the river was promised by the Government last August, within a package of measures aimed at improving water quality in England.  The River Wye catchment is a high-profile case where water quality is adversely affected by phosphates and sediment.  The presence of large numbers of poultry units in the area is a major contributory factor.  The package of measures set out in the Action Plan can also be seen as a ‘Pilot’ for approaches that may be adopted in other catchments if it is proved to be sucessful. 

The full policy paper can be found via https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/river-wye-action-plan/river-wye-action-plan.

Hedgerow Legislation

Further to our article of 6th March (see https://abcbooks.co.uk/hedgerow-protection-2/), the new hedgerow legislation has been laid in both Houses of Parliament.  This includes the familiar requirements;

  • a 2-metre buffer strip, measured from the centre of a hedgerow, where a green cover must be established and maintained.  Also, no cultivation or the application of pesticides or fertilisers should take place within this buffer strip
  • a hedgerow cutting ban from 1st March to 31st August (inclusive).  

The Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 are expected to be approved by Parliament within weeks.  They will come into force immediately, except for the buffer strip requirements; these will only apply immediately where there is a buffer strip in place already.  On land where there is currently no buffer strip, but which is not in crop production, the rules will apply from 1st July 2024.  Where land is currently in use for crop production, the rules will apply from the end of the first harvest that takes place after the legislation comes into force.  This allows time to establish a buffer strip where it is necessary to do that.  

The RPA will be responsible for enforcing the new rules, but this will be via an ‘advice-led’ approach and there will be a further consultation on the proposed enforcement regime.

 

 

Land Prices

After a brief pause, the RICS has re-started publication of its land price series.  This shows transaction data (i.e. actual sales) reported across Great Britain, and is compiled by the Royal Agricultural University.  The chart below shows the published data (in current prices).  This shows a sharp upwards trend in values over the past few years to the current average of £14,000 per acre (£34,500 per Ha).  Howwever, in real terms, values have been much more stable, being little different to those seen back in 2014 (albeit with some volatility in the interim).

The price shown in the RICS ‘weighted average’ figure.  This excludes transactions where the residential element is more than 50% of the sale price, or sales with some other reported distortion such as development value or the impact of a secure tenancy.  This still means the average price shown will include an element of houses and building value, so it is not a ‘bare land’ price.  

More information can be found at – https://www.rics.org/news-insights/market-surveys/rics-rau-rural-land-prices-market-survey .

Tenancy Code of Practice

A new Code of Practice has been launched for the tenanted farm sector in England.  It is designed to encourage good practice and enforce minimum standards expected of
landlords and tenants, and their professional advisers.  The Code has three underlying principles – clarity, communication and collaboration.  It is a voluntary code drawn up by the Farm Tenancy Forum – a body made up of representatives from across the tenanted farm sector.  A copy of the ‘Agricultural Landlord and Tenant Code of Practice for England’ can be found at – https://www.nfuonline.com/media/2znayotx/agricultural-landlord-and-tenant-code-of-practice-for-england.pdf .