The Government has added to the suite of schemes available to help businesses cope with the effects of the Coronavirus outbreak. Following criticism of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) a new ‘Bounce Back Loan Scheme‘ (BBLS) opened on the 4th May. Unlike CBILS, the Government will guarantee 100% of the loan under BBLS, […]
Old Crop Technical changes: Towards the end of the wheat marketing season, the impact of the fundamentals of grain supply and demand change, with some factors taking on greater impact, others less. Attention then turns to new crop, and the fundamentals affecting it. The increasing amount of information over the emerging new crop overtakes the […]
Just a week after the Budget, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, was forced to announce a package of measures worth £350bn to address the worsening economic damage from the Covid-19 outbreak. Some of these will be directly relevant to agriculture. Most of the support (£330bn) is in the form of low-cost bridging loans to industry to […]
Defra has confirmed all eligible applications to the second round of the Countryside Productivity Small Grants Scheme (CPSGS) have been approved. Offers are expected to be sent out by the RPA as from 28th October and successful applicants will have until the end of May 2020 to buy the equipment and submit their claim. This […]
The RPA has sent ‘An Update’ to its customers. This provides information, not only on the BPS, but also the Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (ES) which the Agency took administrative control over at the beginning of October. The Update can be found at – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rural-payments-agency-update-winter-2018. The key points in the update include: BPS 2018 2018 […]
Defra is in final negotiations with the EU Commission to be allowed to extend some of the current HLS Agreements. The NFU has been lobbying for extensions to fill the gap between the number of new Countryside Stewardship Higher-Tier Applications Natural England can support and the number of HLS agreements due to expire. The Commission […]
Payments for the 2018 BPS are due to commence from 1st December. In England it is possible to check to see how a claim is progressing by logging in to customers’ accounts on the Rural Payments site. Select ‘Basic Payment Scheme Application’ from the Business Overview page and then ‘Apply for BPS’. The status of […]
The Government has stepped-up its preparations for a ‘No Deal’ Brexit. On 23rd August it published 25 notices setting out what UK businesses and other stakeholders need to consider in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a comprehensive agreement in place. Over the coming weeks, additional technical notices will be published. In […]
The hot, dry weather is causing difficulties for some to meet scheme requirements; DEFRA has released guidance for those affected. Catch Crops – claimants who have declared Catch Crops to satisfy their EFA requirement under the BPS , should take all reasonable steps to establish the crop by 20th August deadline and keep the evidence […]
The Government has responded to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee’s report and recommendations on the performance of the Rural Payments Agency (see article of 21st May). On the recommendation that the RPA should set more stretching targets, the Government has said that the RPA is committed to reducing the length of time […]