LIVE - DEFRA SFI Janet Hughes “ask me anything” 19:00-20:00 20th September (Today)

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Janet Hughes Defra

Janet Hughes Defra

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Hello, I’m Janet Hughes. I’m the Programme Director for the Future Farming and Countryside Programme in Defra – the programme that’s phasing out the Common Agricultural Policy and introducing new schemes and services for farmers.



Today (20 September) between 7pm-8pm, I and some of my colleagues will be answering your questions about our work including the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Farming in Protected Landscapes, and our test and trials.



We’ll try to answer at least 15 of your top voted questions, so please vote on the questions you’d most like me to answer.



You can read more about our Future Farming policy on our blog.



I’ve answered some of your questions previously: you can watch the videos on the Farm TV or Defra’s YouTube (part 1 and part 2 of the videos). I’m happy to answer any follow-up questions about that, as well as other questions you might have.



Housekeeping:

  • We’ll do our best to answer as many questions as we can, in the order in which you’ve voted on them
  • If there are top voted questions we can’t answer immediately for whatever reason, we’ll do our best to come back with answers to them in the next few days
  • If this works for you as a format, we’ll do it again, so let us know what you think!


Looking forward to seeing you at 7pm!
 
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Janet Hughes Defra

Janet Hughes Defra

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Goweresque said:
One of the major bugbears for farmers is that Defra, NE and the RPA are judge, jury and executioner for all the schemes they administer. Short of extremely expensive and stressful court action there is no way a farmer who falls foul of mistakes made by any of those bodies can gain redress. No public employee will ever admit they made a mistake or were wrong, and often it is just the word of the farmer vs the word of the civil servant, and of course Defra always take the latter as gospel. If there was an independent body that could adjudicate between farmers and Defra, that was relatively easy to appeal to, and was binding on both parties, would that not go a long way to rebuild some trust between Defra et al and the farming community, trust that is virtually at rock bottom at the moment?

To be perfectly frank most of us wouldn't believe Defra if they said it was raining without sticking our head out the window to check first.
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I hear what you say about trust (see earlier answer). We will be looking at how complaints and appeals work both for schemes and regulation with a view to making sure we are, and are seen as, fair.
 
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H

HallFarmBill

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Arable Farmer
JanetHughesDefra said:
No we weren't surprised - we were aiming to attract up to 1,000 people to take part in the pilot, in the event more than 2,000 expressed an interest. We don't need more than 1,000 to learn what we need to learn at this stage through the pilot.

We did make a planning assumption internally in case we had more than that, so that we would be operationally in case that happened, but that was never our target.

On payment rates, we are reviewing all rates because they've not been updated since 2013 and are out of date - we will publish updated rates before the end of the year for existing schemes and SFI.

If we didn't get enough people in the full scheme, we'd first look to understand why not and adjust the scheme. That's why we're taking a test and learn approach, gradually rolling out the scheme over time so we can learn and adjust as we go.

Finally - the deadline for pilot applications has been extended to 30 Sept in response to feedback from farmers who needed more time, so if you expressed an interest and haven't yet applied there is still time!
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We expressed an interest, spent a fair bit of time trying to understand the standards and have submitted an SFI pilot application for the parcels of land we didn't already have in stewardship, but does this mean that if we're not in the first / best 1000 applications the time we've spent on making the application has been wasted?
 
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Janet Hughes Defra

Janet Hughes Defra

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spin cycle said:
i havn't taken much interest in the process because when i looked my first impression is that it's extremely complicated....weighted towards mitigating intensive farming at the expense of us who are already farming 'more sustainably' and even then the payment rates look poor

given the poor uptake of interest from farmers i think i'm not alone.....what can you do to persuade us otherwise?
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Our aim is that there is something in SFI for everyone, and that at least 70% of farmers will take part in new schemes by 2027.

I'm sorry to hear you found it complicated - that's not what we're aiming for; our ambition is to make schemes as straightforward as possible. We also aim to make schemes work for those who are already farming sustainably - that's why we're paying for actions to maintain assets as well as creating new ones.

Our plan is to make the new schemes straightforward and attractive to farmers and to learn and adapt as we go - we're doing that through tests and trials, and will do it through the pilot as well. We welcome all feedback to help us do this.

We're also reviewing payment rates and will publish updated rates later this year for existing and new schemes.
 
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Janet Hughes Defra

Janet Hughes Defra

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Danllan said:
Q = How many of you have genuine, hands-on agricultural knowledge / experience?
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To deliver a complex set of reforms like this we need a whole range of skills and knowledge.

We have farmers working in the programme, and we do a lot of work to co-design our new schemes and services with farmers. For example our tests and trials include 3,000+ farmers and other experts working on projects on the ground to see how they work in practice.

We also work with experts and membership organisations to make sure we understand the range of views and insights.

We also need people like me with no farming background but other skills and knowledge to bring to the table - my speciality is making things in government happen and making sure they work for users (in this case, farmers!).
 
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steveR

steveR

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Mixed Farmer
Location
Gods own County, Shropshire of course
JanetHughesDefra said:
Our plan is to make the new schemes straightforward and attractive to farmers and to learn and adapt as we go - we're doing that through tests and trials, and will do it through the pilot as well. We welcome all feedback to help us do this.

We're also reviewing payment rates and will publish updated rates later this year for existing and new schemes.
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In that case, can I ask the question, will the rate you publish, be based on actual income foregone?

I suspect for most farmers, this will be the crucial deciding factor, no matter how involved and keen one might already be to farm in an environmentally friendly fashion!
 
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J

johnpeels

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Livestock Farmer
JanetHughesDefra said:
Yes we agree we have work to do to earn people's trust in these reforms- that's entirely understandable given the history, and given that these are the most radical reforms in the sector for 70 years.

We really want to deliver services that work and are trusted by farmers. I think we'll do this by engaging with farmers, listening to them and acting on what we hear, and by making sure what we provide services that work.
For example, we have 3,000+ farmers and others taking part in live tests and trials right now to inform scheme design to make sure the new schemes really work for farmers.

Any further ideas for things we can do to earn your trust very gratefully received!
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3000+ farmers,taking part, but not those already in stewardship schemes.....
 
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Janet Hughes Defra

Janet Hughes Defra

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SamN said:
Will there be more options for farms that are predominantly permanent pasture, which allow then to be profitable and proactive, considering that permanent pasture is one of the best carbon sequesters?
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Yes, there will more options over time for farms that are predominantly permanent pasture - very important, as you say. Meanwhile there are lots of options in existing schemes for those farms so I'd encourage you to look there if you don't want to wait for new schemes to be up and running.
 
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bobk

bobk

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Location
stafford
JanetHughesDefra said:
Our aim is that there is something in SFI for everyone, and that at least 70% of farmers will take part in new schemes by 2027.

I'm sorry to hear you found it complicated - that's not what we're aiming for; our ambition is to make schemes as straightforward as possible. We also aim to make schemes work for those who are already farming sustainably - that's why we're paying for actions to maintain assets as well as creating new ones.

Our plan is to make the new schemes straightforward and attractive to farmers and to learn and adapt as we go - we're doing that through tests and trials, and will do it through the pilot as well. We welcome all feedback to help us do this.

We're also reviewing payment rates and will publish updated rates later this year for existing and new schemes.
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You could start with paying for footpaths through prime agricultural land , £1000 a foot or close them , they were not designed for leisure purposes
 
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Clive

Clive

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Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
how is income forgone being calculated? Surely it’s very dependant on quality of farm, soil etc ?

my biggest issue with our pilot application so far is many options I really want to do simply don’t cover my REAL income forgone

is there scope for this to change given budget constraints? Sadly it will represent a significant barrier to the extent of our participation if not
 
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Janet Hughes Defra

Janet Hughes Defra

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BrianV said:
Hi Janet, this whole change in financial assistance for farmers to help improve our environment is obviously going to be very complicated & extremely difficult to get right without causing serious concern for farmers, would it not be much safer to carry the current SFP forward for a few years as everything is already in place but restrict the payments to the first 100 hectares or acres.
ELMS could be applied for above that acreage figure but this would mean that a large section of the farming community would continue as is until Defra iron out all the inevitable teething problems before imposing the finished article on every farmer!
It is obviously the bigger arable farmers that should be encouraged to take part in this first!
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We have introduced a banded reduction so that smaller farmers have a smaller proportion reduction initially.

All the money that comes out of direct payments will go back into the sector, whether that's through existing schemes in the earlier years or new schemes in the later years. So if you don't want to wait for new schemes, I'd direct you towards existing schemes in the meantime.

We're taking a gradual approach so that we can iron out any teething issues early on to reduce the risk on that front.
 
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D

DRC

Member
JanetHughesDefra said:
No we weren't surprised - we were aiming to attract up to 1,000 people to take part in the pilot, in the event more than 2,000 expressed an interest. We don't need more than 1,000 to learn what we need to learn at this stage through the pilot.

We did make a planning assumption internally in case we had more than that, so that we would be operationally in case that happened, but that was never our target.

On payment rates, we are reviewing all rates because they've not been updated since 2013 and are out of date - we will publish updated rates before the end of the year for existing schemes and SFI.

If we didn't get enough people in the full scheme, we'd first look to understand why not and adjust the scheme. That's why we're taking a test and learn approach, gradually rolling out the scheme over time so we can learn and adjust as we go.

Finally - the deadline for pilot applications has been extended to 30 Sept in response to feedback from farmers who needed more time, so if you expressed an interest and haven't yet applied there is still time!
Click to expand...
Why do you need to learn so much, when we've had years of stewardship . Indeed we were in HLS for 10 years, with environmentalists coming to do various studies . Where is all the data from this.
To be honest Janet, I think I will be retired by the time you have actually got a working scheme up and running .
You have know this was coming, so why is it taking so long . What will fill the gap between BPS going any Elms getting started.
 
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Janet Hughes Defra

Janet Hughes Defra

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snarling bee said:
I have a nationally important grassland/marsh SSSI on my farm. At the moment with Mid Tier I am struggling to claim much money for an area of ground I am unable to do much with, in fact it costs me money. I notice I would also be unable to enter the arable offer, if I was not in stewardship already. What is going to be available for SSSIs, and other high wildlife value sites, within the SFI that will be easy to claim and implement? At the moment I am very disillusioned with all the Environmental schemes on offer and proposed. It would be a shame if this SSSI was to loose its value if I was not incentivised to manage it well.
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Yes, the new schemes will have options for SSSI land which I hope would be suitable for your circumstances
 
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Janet Hughes Defra

Janet Hughes Defra

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Sorbaer said:
Hi Janet, I’ve seen DEFRA mention numerous times that they want to make this process simple for the farmer to do without the need for any agents leading to additional costs. I’m 24 and have qualifications in IT and computing and I would say I’m computer minded yet struggle to understand endless information which isn’t very clear. How do you expect my 65 year old dad with a basic nokia phone and very little computer knowledge to enroll himself into these new schemes? IMO things need to be made much much clearer and simpler.
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Yes I agree we can and should make things more simple and straightforward, and we're working hard to do that
 
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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 104 40.6%

  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 93 36.3%

  • 25-50%

    Votes: 39 15.2%

  • 50-75%

    Votes: 5 2.0%

  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.2%

  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 12 4.7%
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