Janet Hughes DEFRA Missing in action?

Good to hear, however, I am one of those who will be "holding back" for a year or two, until I see exactly what is on offer @Janet Hughes Defra ;)

To bring me back into "stewardship", which is the term I use to describe most of what SFI will encompass, requires all that you detail above to occur, and also most importantly, adequate renumeration for my time, my work and the use of my land. I have my doubts that there will be enough in the pot for everyone... Tiers 2 and 3 will see to that!

The old CS in all it's various guises, had some faults, and many plus points and with care, the negatives could have been ironed out, however, I realise that the DEFRA Minister wants a new bright and shiny scheme, so we are where we are.

CS at the end of the most recent scheme for me, was becoming uneconomic on anything other than the smallest scrappy bits of the farm. Larger area options had got left behind with funding, but not a surprise after 10 years!! Proper index linked payments in an era of inflation pushing 5-6% at present, will need factoring in too if DEFRA want us in 3-5 year agreements...
All very fair Steve, I will look forward to the day when you've seen enough to be confident to come into the new schemes (and work hard with my team to make that possible as soon as possible!)
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
All very fair Steve, I will look forward to the day when you've seen enough to be confident to come into the new schemes (and work hard with my team to make that possible as soon as possible!)

Me too...

Just shift that funding to go to the farmers, and not the Charities! We can still achieve the outcomes that are wanted and keep the industry viable.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Reading through the CCC "Land use policies for a net zero UK" report to government from 2020 and I see it includes this hidden away deep within it on page 86 (my bold and colour for emphasis):

Key measures needed are:
Maintaining existing standards. Proposals for the new public payment scheme to replace
CAP (e.g. ELMS in England) allow farmers to opt in or out. This voluntary approach risks a
reversal in good farming practices for those who opt out, which could prove detrimental to

emissions, and wider environmental goals.
To avoid this, measures under existing crosscompliance
rules that have benefited climate change mitigation (e.g. measures to minimise

soil erosion and establishing buffer strips along watercourses) should be mandated
irrespective of whether farmers are in receipt of public money.


Report here: https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/land-use-policies-for-a-net-zero-uk/
 

BrianV

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Dartmoor
Reading through the CCC "Land use policies for a net zero UK" report to government from 2020 and I see it includes this hidden away deep within it on page 86 (my bold and colour for emphasis):

Key measures needed are:
Maintaining existing standards. Proposals for the new public payment scheme to replace
CAP (e.g. ELMS in England) allow farmers to opt in or out. This voluntary approach risks a
reversal in good farming practices for those who opt out, which could prove detrimental to

emissions, and wider environmental goals.
To avoid this, measures under existing crosscompliance
rules that have benefited climate change mitigation (e.g. measures to minimise

soil erosion and establishing buffer strips along watercourses) should be mandated
irrespective of whether farmers are in receipt of public money.


Report here: https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/land-use-policies-for-a-net-zero-uk/
Are we really surprised, the whole ELM's fiasco is simply a way of transferring current farmers payments to other industries under the guise of saving the world, giving new grants to buy shiny new machines hardly seems very green to me
 

topground

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Somerset.
@Janet Hughes Defra
Please tell us how many of the 938 farmers who are quoted as having expressed an interest in the SFI pilot actually signed the contract on offer and for those who did not did you ask why not and what were their reasons for rejecting the contract on offer?
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
Back to reality the response from the Forestry Commission in respect of my Appeal. Obviously complete idiots but then they are Judge and Jury so can get away with it. Obviously the Forestry Commission are working on behalf of DEFRA but are either clueless as to what FC get upto or deliberately turn a blind. I hear Janet you occasionally do farm visits so next time your up in Lancashire you are cordially invited to the farm for tea and cakes but please bring your wellies as I have lots of trees to count as the FC cannot see any. I think the FC inspector turning up with a white stick and a labrador did not help matters. Any suggestions as to a polite response to this email given that the scheme was inspected and signed off after 10 years. The National Grid are officially allowed to chop down trees which is stipulated in the agreement and the polytunnels were already up and recorded on google maps prior to the agreement.
 

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@Janet Hughes Defra
Please tell us how many of the 938 farmers who are quoted as having expressed an interest in the SFI pilot actually signed the contract on offer and for those who did not did you ask why not and what were their reasons for rejecting the contract on offer?
Hi - we'll publish this info shortly on our blog, I'll post here when we do (we're just working through the final batch of applications now and will then have final numbers)

Edit: also yes we will ask those who don't end up signing a contract why not, to see what we can learn
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Back to reality the response from the Forestry Commission in respect of my Appeal. Obviously complete idiots but then they are Judge and Jury so can get away with it. Obviously the Forestry Commission are working on behalf of DEFRA but are either clueless as to what FC get upto or deliberately turn a blind. I hear Janet you occasionally do farm visits so next time your up in Lancashire you are cordially invited to the farm for tea and cakes but please bring your wellies as I have lots of trees to count as the FC cannot see any. I think the FC inspector turning up with a white stick and a labrador did not help matters. Any suggestions as to a polite response to this email given that the scheme was inspected and signed off after 10 years. The National Grid are officially allowed to chop down trees which is stipulated in the agreement and the polytunnels were already up and recorded on google maps prior to the agreement.
Contact your MP. Brief and simple explanation in words of no more than 2 syllables, see if he can assist.

Needs to go beyond FC now I expect?
 

topground

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Somerset.
@Janet Hughes Defra
Please tell us how many of the 938 farmers who are quoted as having expressed an interest in the SFI pilot actually signed the contract on offer and for those who did not did you ask why not and what were their reasons for rejecting the contract on offer?
Two months on and no information about the numbers signing up for the SFI pilot. Why is that? @Janet Hughes Defra
 

devonbeef

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon UK
Given what's going on in the world don't you think it's time for Defra to have a rethink of it's approach!
Janet not being rude, but please could you reply to this question, as it is highly relevant. In what circumstances do you think a rethink in policy will be necessary?Do you not think that a case for a home food production to be treated as something of great importance in light of the mad situation that is unfolding in front of us.We have climate ,world wide going wonko to add to the fun. Land being developed everywhere, are you not concerned that your policy's are not fit for the world of today?
 
Janet not being rude, but please could you reply to this question, as it is highly relevant. In what circumstances do you think a rethink in policy will be necessary?Do you not think that a case for a home food production to be treated as something of great importance in light of the mad situation that is unfolding in front of us.We have climate ,world wide going wonko to add to the fun. Land being developed everywhere, are you not concerned that your policy's are not fit for the world of today?
Hello there - I'm sorry, I'm not able to comment on this - I'm a civil servant, not a politician; nobody has elected me and it's not for me to comment on political questions and policy debates
 
Hello there - I'm sorry, I'm not able to comment on this - I'm a civil servant, not a politician; nobody has elected me and it's not for me to comment on political questions and policy debates
I agree

but if we apply for say 200 ha of an option that take out food production then the economics of farming change
and we only claim for 50 ha and crop the other 150 what penalty will be imposed
no penalty
or a fine for not planting the option
tia
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.2%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.8%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,289
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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