Defra now looking at capping SFI

[lloyd]

Payment rates could be reduced immediately. They were increased at the very point arable returns were falling quite steeply. The whole idea is based on income forgone. It could be argued that taxpayers representatives were ignoring their duty to those taxpayers if they didn’t reduce payment rates going forward.

Always read the fine details of a contract.
Plenty of documented problems selling grain with supposedly water tight agreements .

 

[Clive]

you are wrong about sfi not being attractive on good land. yes none of the options compare with winter wheat but the break crops are so poor these days that sfi is looking increasingly more attractive. we are thinking of taking out of production around 25% with different options all on grade 1 and 2 land.

by “good land” i mean land that can grow consistent/ good breakcrops and consistent 10t/ha plus wheat

it does exist ……… but i agree its rare !

 

[fudge]

Always read the fine details of a contract.
Plenty of documented problems selling grain with supposedly water tight agreements .

Indeed fact remains the taxpayer isn’t getting value for money. If grain is unsaleable these payments should be very low from a taxpayer perspective.

 

[lloyd]

Indeed fact remains the taxpayer isn’t getting value for money. If grain is unsaleable these payments should be very low from a taxpayer perspective.

Yes looks like set aside has reappeared and bringing poor value for money
for the tax payer.
Most of the large scale cereal farmers are already using the techniques
of dd,variable fertiliser ,reduced pesticides anyway as they had found
it the most profitable .Looks like subsidies are back bigger than ever.

 

[Jackov Altraids]

You must have a different calculator to me Are you talking original 2020 BPS or double what you are going to get next year....

Different calculator or different farming?

 

[Jackov Altraids]

I thought SAM3 Herbal Ley is the grassland farmers AHL2 followed by AHL1. SAM3 plus SAM1is effectively almost double BPS - am I missing something?

I'm led to believe that all the large dairy concerns around here have/ will put almost every acre into that.

 

[Sonoftheheir]

33% actually

uk arable needs a consistent, reliable break crop with reasonable gross margin - you can’t blame an arable farmer for taking that option when it’s presented to them and particularly when it will also improve soil health and cut input use on the cash crops

i’m simply doing what defra have encouraged me to do

Yeah but saying 50% is more sensational

 

[Clive]

Yes looks like set aside has reappeared and bringing poor value for money
for the tax payer.
Most of the large scale cereal farmers are already using the techniques
of dd,variable fertiliser ,reduced pesticides anyway as they had found
it the most profitable .Looks like subsidies are back bigger than ever.

these options are actually nothing like set-aside

but hey let’s not let facts get in the way

 

[Jackov Altraids]

Payment rates could be reduced immediately. They were increased at the very point arable returns were falling quite steeply. The whole idea is based on income forgone. It could be argued that taxpayers representatives were ignoring their duty to those taxpayers if they didn’t reduce payment rates going forward.

Much fanfare was made by Janet of how relaxed the approach would be to assessing whether a claimant had 'tried' to meet the required aims.
This relaxed approach could very much favour Defra if they want to reduce the national 'claim'.
Any 'field corners' over 0.1 Ha could be dismissed immediately. . . . . .

 

[Still Farming]

Labour set to ditch £28bn-a-year green investment target

Party leader Keir Starmer prepares to water down most expensive policy

www.ft.com

 

[Right-arm fast]

Much fanfare was made by Janet of how relaxed the approach would be to assessing whether a claimant had 'tried' to meet the required aims.
This relaxed approach could very much favour Defra if they want to reduce the national 'claim'.
Any 'field corners' over 0.1 Ha could be dismissed immediately. . . . . .

Yes exactly, the more vague the requirements the more leaway to pull money back. I am certain the gov don't have the funds for this and that is exactly what they will do, I am sure of it.
DEFRA are not to be trusted.

 

[YorkshireAndrew]

This might be worth a listen to this morning in light of the spending cap rumours .

 

[Jo28]

by “good land” i mean land that can grow consistent/ good breakcrops and consistent 10t/ha plus wheat

it does exist ……… but i agree its rare !

I can with wheat and could with osr until flea beetle arrived. If it wasn't for flea beetle I would carry on with wheat osr vining peas etc but without osr sfi is a no brainer

 

[Clive]

I can with wheat and could with osr until flea beetle arrived. If it wasn't for flea beetle I would carry on with wheat osr vining peas etc but without osr sfi is a no brainer

some have viable alternatives - ie some areas near AD plant or not csfb affected etc

i’ve said many times - the solution / attraction of sfi is very much individual farm / area dependent as is also the ability to achieve some aims in required time scales etc

 

[topground]

A freedom of information request to DEFRA asking what the takeup of SFI is, framed to include the number of food producers and others are signed up, to what part of the scheme and how many hectares in total, would shed light on what Spencer was implying.
This would tell us if the Spencer weasel words mean DEFRA will run out of money because of the level of takeup or more likely aimed at a signalling a U turn in favour of boosting food production since the public are unlikely to be keen on dining on wild flowers and wood chip.
Those of you who are still members might expect the NFU to put in such a FOI request. Any reason why they wouldn’t?
Alternatively a tame MP sympathetic to English agriculture ( is there such a beast?) might be prepared to ask a parliamentary question.

 

[farmerm]

A freedom of information request to DEFRA asking what the takeup of SFI is, framed to include the number of food producers and others are signed up, to what part of the scheme and how many hectares in total, would shed light on what Spencer was implying.
This would tell us if the Spencer weasel words mean DEFRA will run out of money because of the level of takeup or more likely aimed at a signalling a U turn in favour of boosting food production since the public are unlikely to be keen on dining on wild flowers and wood chip.
Those of you who are still members might expect the NFU to put in such a FOI request. Any reason why they wouldn’t?
Alternatively a tame MP sympathetic to English agriculture ( is there such a beast?) might be prepared to ask a parliamentary question.

I’m looking at a claim of BPS + 25%… but don’t think they will overspend the budget, for everyone who claims more than they got under BPS plenty of others will either not engage or have “unimproved grass” with little scope for big SFI claims…

 

[Clive]

A freedom of information request to DEFRA asking what the takeup of SFI is, framed to include the number of food producers and others are signed up, to what part of the scheme and how many hectares in total, would shed light on what Spencer was implying.
This would tell us if the Spencer weasel words mean DEFRA will run out of money because of the level of takeup or more likely aimed at a signalling a U turn in favour of boosting food production since the public are unlikely to be keen on dining on wild flowers and wood chip.
Those of you who are still members might expect the NFU to put in such a FOI request. Any reason why they wouldn’t?
Alternatively a tame MP sympathetic to English agriculture ( is there such a beast?) might be prepared to ask a parliamentary question.

why a FOI ?

in last weeks webinar they clearly stated 9000 active agreements and 1 million ha so far

i don’t think these numbers are secret ?

 

[Adeptandy]

why a FOI ?

in last weeks webinar they clearly stated 9000 active agreements and 1 million ha so far

i don’t think these numbers are secret ?

Think your getting special treatment, mines been in 8 days and they're still checking

 

[Goweresque]

in last weeks webinar they clearly stated 9000 active agreements and 1 million ha so far

While thats not a massive % of the whole (England's farmed area is just under 9m Ha, so that would suggest about 11% of the land is now under SFI) I bet its enough for them to be able to analyse and work out the average claim rate per acre for all types of farm. And I'll bet that analysis has shown at what point of SFI take up the budget gets blown up, and they've sh*t themselves because its a far lower % of all land than they thought it would be, ie average claims are running far higher than they expected.

 

[Clive]

While thats not a massive % of the whole (England's farmed area is just under 9m Ha, so that would suggest about 11% of the land is now under SFI) I bet its enough for them to be able to analyse and work out the average claim rate per acre for all types of farm. And I'll bet that analysis has shown at what point of SFI take up the budget gets blown up, and they've sh*t themselves because its a far lower % of all land than they thought it would be, ie average claims are running far higher than they expected.

quite possibly accurate i would agree