Farming

Farming Farmers offered free workshops to help plan for grant changes

FREE workshops are being held to help farmers and landowners plan for changes to grant payments.

Between 2021 and 2027, the government will reduce and then stop Direct Payments, instead paying farmers to improve the environment, improve animal health and welfare, and reduce carbon emissions.

The first event to help people through the change is set to be held at Bishops Caundle Village Hall on December 14.

The information workshops are being provided as part of the Future Farming Resilience programme, which has expanded this year with an additional £2.6million of funding support from Defra.

Titled, Navigating the Agricultural Transition, the sessions provide a comprehensive overview of the coming changes and the options available as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments are gradually reduced, before stopping altogether in 2027.

Further workshops will follow in the new year covering the whole of Dorset.

Those who attend the workshops and want to explore the impact of the changes on their business in greater depth also have the opportunity to take up the offer of one-to-one business support with experienced advisors.

The support offered through the project is free to any farmer or landowner receiving Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments. Farmers will be helped to take advantage of business opportunities, improve the environment, and reduce carbon emissions, the government says.

Cllr Tony Ferrari, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for economic growth, assets and property, said: “Ceasing of Direct Payments is the biggest change in farm support for generations and all farmers need

The information workshops are being provided as part of the Future Farming Resilience programme

to think how they will adapt in the near future.

“This workshop will cover the timeline for how the Basic Payment Scheme will be reduced over the next few years, but also provide important information on a number of different schemes that will be available to those affected, as well as options to improve productivity and increase profits.

“I strongly encourage all Dorset farmers and land managers currently in receipt of BPS payments to consider attending one these free workshops and keep an eye out as new sessions are added to the calendar.”

Farmers keen on hedgerows: Report

FARMERS would be keen to extend hedgerows in a bid to boost nature - providing the right support was on offer, according to a new report.

Charity, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CRPE), garnered more than 1,100 responses to its Farmers’ Hedgrows Report.

The results reveal a willingness of farmers to extend the UK’s hedgerow networkm, but that they are calling for more support from government to do so.

The results showed:

Almost 90% of farmers say hedgerows are important to them and their business, with the vast majority calling for more government support

As the government finalises details of ELMs funding, 70% of farmers say they’d plant more hedgerows given the right incentives

Providing a vital nature corridor on farms was seen as the top benefit of hedgerows, followed by shelter for crops and livestock

Eight in ten farmers support a target to increase hedgerows by 40% by 2050 as a key climate and nature recovery goal

Tom Fyans, interim chief executive of CPRE, the countryside charity, said: “Farmers could not have been clearer about the value they place on hedgerows - they really care about supporting wildlife and nature on their land.

“The government needs to tap into their enthusiasm by using ELMs to provide simple, accessible schemes that support farmers to look after their hedgerows for everyone’s benefit.

“The hedgerow network, in its expanse, is our largest ‘nature reserve’. It provides forage, shelter and shade for animals; habitat for pollinators and pest predators; and absorbs carbon emissions while helping prevent both drought and flooding.

“That’s why CPRE is calling on the government to commit to the target of 40% more hedgerows by 2050.”

The findings show farmers are keenly aware of the benefits of revitalising nature on their land.

Farmers surveyed revealed a lack of funding was by far the biggest obstacle to planting and maintaining hedgerows, despite wildlife and nature corridors being seen as the greatest benefit of hedgerows by almost nine in 10 farmers.

Other benefits include providing shelter or shade for crops or livestock, providing a home for pollinators and pest predators – and more than half of farmers simply recognising that hedgerows enhance the beauty of the countryside, the CPRE said in the report.

Farming

Free-range Xmas turkeys in short supply as bird flu measures continue

SUPPLIES of free-range birds – including Christmas turkeys – have been hit ‘very, very hard’ by the bird flu epidemic that has hit the UK, MPs have been told.

Richard Griffiths, chief executive of the British Poultry Council, told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee this week (November 29) up to half of free-range poultry grown for Christmas in the UK has died or been culled.

Of the total 8.5 million to 9 million turkeys produced - not just those for Christmas - about 1.6 million had already died or been culled, he added.

Mr Griffiths was one of the industry experts interviewed by the committee, as it seeks to report on why this year’s outbreak has been ‘so serious and prolonged’.

Paul Kelly, of Kelly Turkeys, based in Essex, said there would be a shortage of free-range birds on shelves this Christmas.

Since October 2021, England has seen more than 250 confirmed cases of bird flu, and Mr Kelly said his business had lost around £1.2m after three outbreaks.

“For farmers it has been devastating,” he said. “The challenge for lot of smaller seasonal producers that produce Christmas poultry, they have their flock on their farm and when it is infected, those turkeys will die within four days.”

Mr Kelly also called for the government to overhaul the compensation scheme for farmers hit by an outbreak.

Currently, they are compensated for the number of fit and healthy birds after an outbreak. However, the committee was told entire flocks can have died before officials arrive to carry out a cull - meaning they receive no compensation.

Since November 7, flocks in England have legally had to be kept indoors in a bid to prevent the spread of bird flu in what the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said was the ‘largest ever outbreak of avian influenza’.

Announcing the measures, UK chief veterinary officer, Christine Middlemiss, said: “We are now facing this year, the largest ever outbreak of bird flu and are seeing rapid escalation in the number of cases on commercial farms and in backyard birds across England.

“The risk of kept birds being exposed to disease has reached a point where it is now necessary for all birds to be housed until further notice.

“Scrupulous biosecurity and separating flocks in all ways, from wild birds remain the best form of defence. Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands ... you must keep (them) indoors.

“This decision has not been taken lightly, but is the best way to protect your birds from this highly infectious disease.”

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NEW: SLURRY INFRASTRUCTURE GRANT

Symonds & Sampson’s Rural Agents have been studying the detail of the newly released Slurry Infrastructure Grant. Significant funding is available to pig, beef and dairy farmers. Rural Agent Jack Denning-James from our Devizes office outlines the details. The grant will be available to pig, beef and dairy farmers whose farming systems produce slurry. It will help replace, build new or expand existing slurry stores to provide 6 months’ storage. This grant is competitive and will fund between £25,000 and £250,000 per agreement based on standard grant rates. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will award the grant to those projects that have the greatest environmental outcomes.

THE SLURRY INFRASTRUCTURE GRANT ONLINE CHECKER WILL OPEN ON THE 6TH DECEMBER 2022 WITH A CLOSING DEADLINE OF 31ST JANUARY 2023

You can use this grant for slurry stores including tanks, lagoons and concrete stores fitted with impermeable covers and large permanent bags. The grant will also fund items necessary for the basic functioning of new or expanded slurry stores, such as reception pits, slurry pumps and agitators. Some of the highlight payment rates are detailed below:

Item

Above ground steel slurry store

Precast circular concrete slurry store

Earth bank lagoon without synthetic liner

Earth bank lagoon with synthetic liner

Store using precast rectangular concrete panels Large volumne permanently installed supported slurry bag

Grant Rate (per m3)

£31.50

£26.17

£10.08

Fixed flexible cover

£18.22

£72.74

£19.27

£32.17 (per m2)

Floating flexible cover

£7.99 (per m2)

Precast concrete reception pit

£154.81

Further funding is available on a standard cost basis for pumps, choppers, pipework, transfer channels, agitators and safety equipment. The grant will not pay toward costs for obtaining planning, removing old stores, concreting yard areas and several other items. You will need to provide evidence regarding: • The type of store you want to build • The volume of storage you need to reach 6 months’ capacity (m3) • The type of cover you will have • How big the cover will be (m²) • Other items their sizes (i.e., the number of wall mixers and volume of reception pit etc)

If you are eligible and are successful in being invited for a full application you will need to provide additional detail to including information on soil suitability, capacity calculations and scaled drawings. The deadline for submitting full applications will be 28th June 2024. The RPA will assess business based on several environmental and financial targets and will include optional advice from your local catchment sensitive farming officer. The RPA will aim to either approve or reject applications within 60 days of submission. Priority will be given initially to schemes near Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and wetlands designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention (or Ramsar sites) and air quality priority areas. If successful, applicants will enter a five-year funding agreement during which time you must maintain 6-months’ slurry storage, keep slurry covered and produce and use a nutrient management plan. Applicants will be able to make up to three claims over the duration of the project and grants will be paid in arrears. Symonds & Sampson are able to help you through every step of the new Slurry Infrastructure grant including the eligibility checker, applying for planning permission for the new grant funding, sourcing finance if required and submitting full applications on your behalf. We expect this grant to be exceptionally popular and advise you make a start on the application as soon as possible if you intend to apply.