The RPA has confirmed it has hit its first target of paying 90% of eligible claimants by the end of December. According to the latest announcement from the agency, 91% of claimants in England received their 2016 Basic Payment by the end of the year. Thisrepresents 78,000 claimants. Total payments received is said to be […]
DEFRA and Natural England have announced an additional round of the Countryside Stewardship:Facilitation Fund. This is in response to actions identified in Flood Action Plans following the storms last December. The areas eligible to apply for funding are those where the Farming Recovery Fund was available which includes: Cumbria Lancashire Greater Manchester Northumberland County Durham […]
The RPA has released a further update on 2016 BPS payment progress. As of 13th December 59,000 claimants (68%) had received their payment. This is a further 8,000 farmers and in total amounts to £822m. This equates to around 50% of the total BPS funds (although, interestingly, unlike previous years, the RPA is not quoting […]
The Government Chief Vet has introduced new measures as a precaution against avian influenza. With cases of the highly contagious H5N8 strain of the disease being found on the French coast, and in the Netherlands, extra precautions are being urged on UK poultry farmers. Free-range producers have been told to keep their flocks inside (this […]
The Forestry Commission has announced the Woodland Creation Grant for 2017 will open for initial applications on 3rd January and close on 1st March. There are no significant changes to the scheme this year, prospective claimants are advised to get in contact with their local Woodland Officer. Guidance and application forms can also be found […]
BPS 2016 Payments We understand that the RPA are on track to start making payments on 1st December. Remember applications, whether made online or by paper, can be tracked by selecting ‘Applications’ from the Business Overview page on the Rural Payments website and clicking on ‘Apply for BPS’. Once the status says ‘Preparing for Payment’ […]
There have been a number of new pieces of BPS information over the last few of weeks: The RPA has announced it aims to make BPS payments to 90% of claimants by the end of December 2016, but rather worryingly its target is only for a further 3% to be paid between 31st December and 31st March. […]
As from 1st January 2017 Cattle Tracing System (CTS) links in Scotland will be replaced by a new system called ScotMoves. According to the Scottish Government, CTS links are no longer compliant with EU regulations and pose a non-compliance penalty and risk to public health and disease control. The ScotMoves system is being hosted on […]
DEFRA has made available a form to apply for a Temporary Land Association (TLA) or a Temporary County Parish Holding Number (tCPH). This can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-to-register-temporary-use-of-land-to-keep-livestock This new system is part of the changes to simplify the reporting and recording of animal movements, which is being rolled out over the coming year (see our article of […]
Farming Minister, George Eustice, announced on 27th Julythat the new livestock movement rules (See May’s article) will start rolling out as from that date, with completion by summer 2017. DEFRA has started to send the first batch of letters out to livestock keepers who are affected. Farmers do not need to do anything until they […]