Janet Hughes DEFRA Missing in action?

[Mixedupfarmer]

Sssssh. Stop giving other folk ideas !

Might have to take the post down .

 

[john 650]

Do wonder if some may take the retirement payment and move to Wales or Scotland and carry on farming, potentially able to claim devolved subs, and maybe a more farming friendly Ag policy?

Don't confuse "different" with "better"

WG have to put their own stamp of "uniqueness" on schemes, to justify existence. Much like the NHS, Schools, Policing, we do "different" in Wales. You've only got to look at league tables for each of these to see that...

 

[Still Farming]

No. Ag policy is devolved. We could have a very different system to my neighbours just over the hedge in England (hopefully).

Yes yes you keep saying and WE know it is!
Wether Drakeford and Griffiths get ideas else where?
Tax is deloved also but we STILL get HMRC bills and paperwork etc etc .
Think what you like!

 

[Still Farming]

Do wonder if some may take the retirement payment and move to Wales or Scotland and carry on farming, potentially able to claim devolved subs, and maybe a more farming friendly Ag policy?

Or those moved to the eu and get grants there is it too ?

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

Or those moved to the eu and get grants there is it too ?

Will it still be possible now we are out of the EU?

 

[Y Fan Wen]

Yes yes you keep saying and WE know it is!
Wether Drakeford and Griffiths get ideas else where?
Tax is deloved also but we STILL get HMRC bills and paperwork etc etc .
Think what you like!

Brilliant!

 

[Still Farming]

Brilliant!

Details are in the smallprint

 

[topground]

there is a plan to run regular q&a sessions as Janet said she enjoyed the first session we did, just need to nail some dates down really but it will happen

@Clive Have you heard from @Janet Hughes Defra or any of her colleagues involved in the SFI?.

 

[ajcc]

Might be very different reactions all round after Eustice, goldsmith, Carrie, Boris etc tell the world their plans for British farmland this week!!!

 

[Sid]

@Clive Have you heard from @Janet Hughes Defra or any of her colleagues involved in the SFI?.

Too busy playing catch up.

Time frames for grant and environmental schemes constantly being pushed further and further back while the reductions won't stop.

Everyone else has gone back to work whereas government is still "working from home".

 

[farmerm]

Janet should never have begun engaging on here. When she did I gave it a week. For the same reasons that the NFU and other bodies in the firing line shouldn't engage on here. It isn't constructive. Read relevant threads, yes. Put relevant information up in the form of press releases etc, yes. But get into conversations, no. It's not a constructive use of their time.

You are right of course. Engagement though time limited question and answer sessions is very valuable both for taking in ideas and viewpoints from the farming community and disseminating information. Open ended engagement with individuals is just a serious drain on time with limited gains to be made.

 

[steveR]

@Clive Have you heard from @Janet Hughes Defra or any of her colleagues involved in the SFI?.

Thet will be flat out for at least a fortnight, coming up with a considered response to the less than glowing report from EFRA last week. Lots to sort out , and I mean LOTS!

 

[Sid]

Thet will be flat out for at least a fortnight, coming up with a considered excuses to the less than glowing report from EFRA last week. Lots to sort out , and I mean LOTS!

I may have edited that and put what you were actually thinking.

I think they have more to sort out than they have got right.

 

[Clive]

@Clive Have you heard from @Janet Hughes Defra or any of her colleagues involved in the SFI?.

Juts chased and several new dates now - feb on there way today I'm promised - will update the thread as soon as I have them

 

[steveR]

I may have edited that and put what you were actually thinking.

I think they have more to sort out than they have got right.

There are more than one or two minor issues to resolve I agree....

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

there is a plan to run regular q&a sessions as Janet said she enjoyed the first session we did, just need to nail some dates down really but it will happen

Morning all - as Clive says, we are planning to run more Q&A sessions and I'm very happy to do that

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

With the sign up deadline for the SFI pilot looming and with the level of suspicion surrounding the contract on offer I find it odd that there has been no sign of @Janet Hughes Defra since 7th October to answer questions.
If seems a strange time to abandon communication by DEFRA and even, heaven forbid Janet Hughes is indisposed, it should not be beyond the wit of DEFRA to put up a substitute.
Perhaps the questions all became a little too difficult and the scam and sham that is the SFI pilot has been exposed.

It could be the plan by the civil service is to blame the farmers for not cooperating with their elaborate charade when it was never workable.
Whatever the reason for two weeks of non engagement, in the words of Private Eye; ‘We should be told!’

Hi there - unfortunately I'm not able to engage every day on here (I did follow up for a few days after our last Q&A to make sure everyone's questions were answered) but I'm very happy to engage and answer questions and we're setting up further dates for Q&A sessions so I can do that - I expect @Clive will share details shortly

 

[topground]

Hi there - unfortunately I'm not able to engage every day on here (I did follow up for a few days after our last Q&A to make sure everyone's questions were answered) but I'm very happy to engage and answer questions and we're setting up further dates for Q&A sessions so I can do that - I expect @Clive will share details shortly

@Janet Hughes Defra
Not engaging on a daily basis is very different from going AWOL for the best part of a month when there are fundamental questions to be answered.
I tagged Janet Hughes in a previous thread making the points below;

DEFRA expect me to sign their contract without knowing what the payment rates will be over a three year period ( which I was not previously aware of having assumed it was over one year to coincide with the payment of the £5K bribe to take part) There is no limit to how much time I might be required to commit but DEFRA can it would appear dock money at their discretion.
That might be due to my oversight but in addition I find that I will have to comply with the SFI terms and conditions (Highlighted in red) none of which are included in the agreement so which particular version DEFRA wish to apply will be outside of my control.
This not a contract between equals in the area of dispute resolution and there is no obligation on DEFRA that I can see.
In the absence of any reply the deadline for me to accept the contract has passed.
I have no confidence in the ability of the RPA helpline to answer any substantive questions since the call handlers will be reading a script and email enquiries have only yielded stock replies and have ignored anything difficult.

Although I have neither accepted or rejected the contract I doubt that I will be alone and take up will be low and those of us that maintain livestock on low input systems on permanent pasture will be under represented.
I have read nothing that alters my view that SFI, including the pilot has been set up to fail.

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

@Janet Hughes Defra
Not engaging on a daily basis is very different from going AWOL for the best part of a month when there are fundamental questions to be answered.
I tagged Janet Hughes in a previous thread making the points below;

DEFRA expect me to sign their contract without knowing what the payment rates will be over a three year period ( which I was not previously aware of having assumed it was over one year to coincide with the payment of the £5K bribe to take part) There is no limit to how much time I might be required to commit but DEFRA can it would appear dock money at their discretion.
That might be due to my oversight but in addition I find that I will have to comply with the SFI terms and conditions (Highlighted in red) none of which are included in the agreement so which particular version DEFRA wish to apply will be outside of my control.
This not a contract between equals in the area of dispute resolution and there is no obligation on DEFRA that I can see.
In the absence of any reply the deadline for me to accept the contract has passed.
I have no confidence in the ability of the RPA helpline to answer any substantive questions since the call handlers will be reading a script and email enquiries have only yielded stock replies and have ignored anything difficult.

Although I have neither accepted or rejected the contract I doubt that I will be alone and take up will be low and those of us that maintain livestock on low input systems on permanent pasture will be under represented.
I have read nothing that alters my view that SFI, including the pilot has been set up to fail.

Hi there, I'm sorry you didn't feel able to sign the agreement and that I missed your comment - we did provide direct ways for pilot participants to get in touch with us so I hope you were able to try those as well as posting here? If you'd like to get in touch directly I'd be happy to put you in touch with someone who can help.

On your question about representation we have a good range of farming types, locations and tenancies in the pilot, as outlined in this blogpost: https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2021/10/15/update-on-the-sustainable-farming-incentive-pilot/ and we have 938 farmers coming into the pilot which is almost exactly what we were aiming for so we think we do have a reasonable cohort of people working with us in the pilot to develop the scheme and make it work for farmers.

We don't claim to have everything right - that's the point of the pilot, to help us identify the things that don't work and improve them. We've already made changes to the way the main scheme will work based on what we've learned from feedback in the pilot - we'll be publishing more details about that in a few weeks' time, as planned, and I'll be happy to answer questions here about it in our next Q&A session.

 

[Worsall]

Thankyou for contributing @Janet Hughes Defra, its is appreciated when organisations engage.