new to farming - can I claim subsidies for hay in Scotland?

tommydog

Member
Arable Farmer
Earlier in the year I purchased a house with 15 acres of land in Scotland and recently acquired a tractor and baler. I don't plan to do anything else with the land other than Hay and a small vegetable plot (1 acre), where I will supply vegetables to a few neighbors . In light of this, I was wondering if I can claim subsidies, as I can't find guidance on this for Hay?
 

tommydog

Member
Arable Farmer
Have you bought entitlements? Have you filled in this year's iacs form?
You'd be best talking to your local adviser to how best proceed.

I am just filling in the Single Application Form now. There is no time to talk to an adviser as the application closes on Monday and I am going on holiday tomorrow. Not sure what you mean about buying entitlements? The people who owned the property before had horses, so they would not have been claiming any subsidies.
 

curlietailz

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Sedgefield
I don’t know about Scotland but you need one Entitlement per acre in order to be able to claim a hectare ( edited) of subsidy
If the previous owner had horses I’d check it’s even redgistered
I’m assuming you have a CPH/Holding number and an SBI number.

and in England we have Two land zones you need to know which zone your land is in before you buy or lease an entitlement which allows you to claim in the first place

and are you aware of the rules you need to abide by once you’ve submitted your claim

I’d get an advisor
Claims can be lodged late with financial penalty. Though
 

melted welly

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
DD9.
Earlier in the year I purchased a house with 15 acres of land in Scotland and recently acquired a tractor and baler. I don't plan to do anything else with the land other than Hay and a small vegetable plot (1 acre), where I will supply vegetables to a few neighbors . In light of this, I was wondering if I can claim subsidies, as I can't find guidance on this for Hay?
Get some advice and don’t bother with it this yr, sounds like you could open a whole can of worms
 

tommydog

Member
Arable Farmer
The thing is I don't know if Hay even qualifies as a valid agricultural activity? Also does it mean I can only sell hay to people who have livestock and not horses?
 

tommydog

Member
Arable Farmer
Get some advice and don’t bother with it this yr, sounds like you could open a whole can of worms

I will get some advice, but I wonder if submitting the application form would buy me a little more time? If anything is wrong do they just send the form back and ask me to fill in relevant sections again?
 

DrDunc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Dunsyre
The thing is I don't know if Hay even qualifies as a valid agricultural activity? Also does it mean I can only sell hay to people who have livestock and not horses?
Eventually, after filling in all the forms, paying "consultants" for advice, paying middlemen for "entitlements", and learning that for every hoop passed, that there's 15 more pointless departments holding up their own to be jumped through, you'll be able to claim a part of a hectares with of subsidy for agricultural use

It'll provide you with at least a couple of hundred pounds per year!

And provide you with the opportunity to fill in further forms, receive unannounced inspections from many different departments attempting to justify their jobs, and make you susceptable to Draconian fines without recourse to appeal

In short, have you actually considered all the problems that you'll create for yourself claiming subsidy to make 10 bales of hay and a couple of cabbages a year?
 

melted welly

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
DD9.
I will get some advice, but I wonder if submitting the application form would buy me a little more time? If anything is wrong do they just send the form back and ask me to fill in relevant sections again?
You won’t be able to submit if you’ve got errors. Are you doing it online? If so hit “validate” and it’ll flag up any inconsistencies. Then you’ve your maps to upload as well. If you’ve got entitlements, brn etc then hay and small veg plot on 15acs would be pretty simple to do.

BUT weigh up the pros and cons. If you don’t claim, the land is yours to do with (within the law) as you please. If you claim, there’ll be a queue of inspectors and auditors with various rules and regs who need to have their say. If it was me, id not bother and have a quiet life.
 

BRB John

Member
BASIS
Location
Aberdeenshire
Even if you don't get paid it's still worth filming the form out. For a field of grass no one is going to bother you inspections wise they've got much bigger arable boys to fry...
It could be worth 3k a year which isn't too be snifted at. Plus 150 bales of hay plus winter grazing for sheep if your fences are particularly good...
You'll be making 6k no problem 😜 and it'll only cost you 12k to get it 🤣
 

tommydog

Member
Arable Farmer
Even if you don't get paid it's still worth filming the form out. For a field of grass no one is going to bother you inspections wise they've got much bigger arable boys to fry...
But what about your financial records? Is it a requirement to keep full financial accounts of who you have sold to? What about if they find out I have sold to someone with horses, could they not argue that is not agricultural?
 

BRB John

Member
BASIS
Location
Aberdeenshire
But what about your financial records? Is it a requirement to keep full financial accounts of who you have sold to? What about if they find out I have sold to someone with horses, could they not argue that is not agricultural?
No you don't need a license to make and sell hay to anyone.
They've never ask me for any financial accounts.
Subsidies are mostly focused on environmental standards.
It would be wise to keep records. So if someone comes back claiming you've sold them rubbish hay you've got something to show otherwise...
Hay is agricultural doesn't matter where you sell it too.
 

Badshot

Member
Location
Kent
Even if you don't get paid it's still worth filming the form out. For a field of grass no one is going to bother you inspections wise they've got much bigger arable boys to fry...
It could be worth 3k a year which isn't too be snifted at. Plus 150 bales of hay plus winter grazing for sheep if your fences are particularly good...
You'll be making 6k no problem 😜 and it'll only cost you 12k to get it 🤣
£3k per year on 15 acres!!

Please show your workings on that
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Going on the Welsh rate, 15 acres will be about £1k. Is it worth getting rogered to buggery by pen pushing, clip board wielding, tape measuring chumps wearing Waffen SS uniforms ?
 

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