Those who transferred entitlements in England prior to the BPS claim may be wondering if the transaction has gone through. The RPA had a large number of transfers to deal with and it has taken a while to work through them. Notifications are now been sent out, and should all be completed by the end of […]
The ‘Future of Scottish Agriculture- a discussion document’ has been published (http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0047/00479616.pdf). The document looks at the key opportunities and challenges that will be faced by the agricultural industry and describes the vision and desired outcomes whilst inviting the public and stakeholders to engage with the process. Key outcomes are; strong, sustainable growth in profits […]
The Welsh Government has launched four grant schemes under the Rural Development Programme for Wales. The table below indicates the budget, expected number of grants and application windows. All have a two stage application window, firstly an Expression of Interest (EOI) must be submitted (in word and emailed). If successful a full application will need […]
The Scottish Government’s long awaited Land Reform Bill was published on June 23rd. Land Reform Minister, Aileen McLeod, has pledged to end ‘the stop-start nature’ of historic land reform and put communities at the forefront of reforms to promote ‘sustainability, fairness and transparency’. One of the key themes behind the Bill is to have more […]
Environmental Stewardship Claim Forms must be submitted by 15th June, however we have been informed that the address on the top of the letter (PO Box 798, Leeds, LS1 9NA) is incorrect and post is being redirected. This redirection can take couple of days. The correct address is : Natural England Customer Services Natural House […]
The move back to paper BPS applications in England has inevitably thrown up some questions around the process. This article aims to answer some of these, and highlight the areas where more information is still required. Firstly, although claims are to be on the new paper BPS form, all claimants (and Agents) must still be registered on […]
Following the announcement that 2015 Basic Payment applications would be made on paper the RPA has published the blank BP5 form along with guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-apply-for-the-basic-payment-scheme-in-2015). We have had a number of questions of the past couple of days so will attempt to provide some guidance and pointers of our own. E-mails for those who do not […]
Following the approval of the RDPE programme, DEFRA have published another CAP Update covering funding under Pillar 2 – Rural Development. There are two general points to note regarding the schemes. We have previously mentioned that all agent authorisations need to be re-submitted for BPS. This is also the case for agents managing Environmental Stewardship (ES) […]
The Woodland Capital Grants scheme opened on the 17th February 2015. The scheme is available for woodland creation, woodland management plans (to use in a Countryside Stewardship Scheme application) and tree health issues. Full details of the scheme including capital item prescriptions and payment rates can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-countryside-stewardship-woodland-capital-grants-2015/guide-to-countryside-stewardship-woodland-capital-grants-2015. Applications Applications for tree health […]
The International Grains Council updated its 2014/15 grain harvest forecast last week. It has been gradually edging up its figures since the first forecasts were published in May last year. In fact since then, their wheat production figure has risen by 20 million tonnes and coarse grains by 30 million. Lower prices as a result […]