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

[Janet Hughes Defra]

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!

 

[Jo28]

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.

Let's be honest the biggest bulk of this money will go to either huge farms or groups like rspb who will push defra into what they want and small family farms will be a thing of the past.

 

[spin cycle]

perhaps,given we've got limited time with janet, we should all stop posting and just up/down vote her answers,,,,then have a big 'meltdown' of postings that she can 'digest' tommoz?

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

Would we better off sticking with food production, rather than trying to be wildlife champions, whilst importing food from countries with questionable practices such as leveling rain forests to produce crops/ meat that could be produced in the UK ?

We don't think it's about not producing food and doing wildlife instead - for a lot of farms it will be about producing food in a more sustainable way.

 

[steveR]

Food production is hugely important for the public. But we don't think subsidies are the right way forward because they stifle productivity growth, are unfair, drive up land and rent prices and don't produce much public benefit.

That's why we are going to spend the money instead on (a) supporting productivity in the sector and (b) investing in environmental, climate and animal health and welfare outcomes. The government has committed to maintain the same level of spending on agriculture but through these schemes instead of subsidies.

Also, we think food production and these outcomes can and should go hand in hand - it's not about choosing one or the other.

I remain to be convinced that our customers, the big food manufacturers and retailers, will buy into this as wholeheartedy as one would hope....

Most farmers have long understood for many years, that subsidies are not actually to benefit farmers, but rather allow us to produce and sell product at below the CoP. In other words to support a cheap supply of food.

Will the supermarkets crank up their rates, or simply buy from wherever is cheapest.....? we all know the answer to that!!

 

[bobk]

Environmental schemes only work for large estates , To the average farmer your schemes are tickling the edges ,

Looked at countryside stewardship , SFI and ELMS , I'm oot as they say .

Let us feed the nation , dismantle Red Tractor and watch us go .

 

[steveR]

We don't think it's about not producing food and doing wildlife instead - for a lot of farms it will be about producing food in a more sustainable way.

I have long said sustainable also means profitable.... we can do both, IF we can get a fair price at the end of the day. Will the Govt free trade ethos allow this to happen.... I have my doubts, sadly.

SFI needs to be more joined up and work at retailer/producer levels too. Support local abattoirs to open and/or stay in business, for instance

 

[topground]

We don't think it's about not producing food and doing wildlife instead - for a lot of farms it will be about producing food in a more sustainable way.

Unless DEFRA understand that ‘sustainable farming’ means profitable farming this whole exercise is a waste of everyone’s time other than those who wish to see the demise of family farms in the UK.

 

[StormInATeaCup]

Why do we still have absolutely no details of Local Nature Recovery when it will make up a large portion of the BPS budget? It was clear from the Landscape Recovery information scheme that this part of ELMs would be unavailable for the vast majority of farmers. All we have currently been given is SFI with very low income foregone payment rates against the devastating backdrop of huge BPS reductions in the next 3 years

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

We'll pay for a mixture of buffer and other types of strips up to 10m wide through the SFI standards. We do think these are really important and valuable as you say.

We are currently reviewing all payment rates and plan to publish updated rates for existing schemes and SFI before the end of the year.

We're all ears about whether the standards work for you - we'll learn a lot through the pilot about this, and welcome other feedback too

Will reviewed payment rates be applied to existing schemes for the remainder of their duration, as well as new schemes including the SFI? Sadly our mid tier agreement ends at the end of the year, and all environmental options will be ploughed out as the payment rates offered for a new scheme were too low (same as 6 years ago) considering the BPS reductions, and increase in costs. Why have rates not been reviewed before?

 

[BenAdamsAgri]

Evening Janet,

We are considering applying for the sfi pilot but what evidence we need to submit hasn't been released yet? Is this going to happen before the due date or am I going in blind??

Also the arable land payment is abysmal and needs increased asap.

 

[Bossfarmer]

Is this for the UK or Scotland? Without subsidies up here on poorer yielding land many farms will quickly go out of business, one of the main reasons being our closes competitors the EU are heavily subsidied irish beef would undercut us

Ive not had a response

 

[Martyn]

I understand that DEFRA helps regulate legislation involved with the imports of produce, for our farming industry to operate commercially in one hand and environmentally in the other, which I total surport, what new measure are going to be put in place to guarantee that imports not only meet the same quality as our own produce but are also farmed with the same environmental impacts etc. It's no use as a country becoming more reliant on imports and shifting our responsibility for our planet to countries abroad that we have little control over.

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

Is it true that DEFRA have been taken by surprise by the lack of uptake for the SFI pilot scheme, and if so, why do you think uptake has been below expectations?

If you think it has anything to do with payment rates, presumably this will be considered and potentially rectified before the full roll out?

What would be the consequence of a lower than expected uptake of the full SFI scheme? Would funds be redirected towards other areas of agricultural reform, such as the Local Nature Recovery? Would a low uptake be a significant blow to the Government's climate goals?

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!

 

[d williams]

We don't think it's about not producing food and doing wildlife instead - for a lot of farms it will be about producing food in a more sustainable way.

Do you think this should be a uk policy rather then three different governments having their own agenda??

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

Good Evening

I have been involved in Stewardship since the very first Arable Pilot Scheme in the mid 90s, and then had two 10yr Countryside Stewardship schemes. My 110ha business nowadays is a very traditional, mixed farming enterprise with a large area devoted to stewardship, and with a huge increase this year with new Bumblebird mix and new herbal leys on half the farm, planted in the past 7-8months.

I declined to accept an invitation to renew my HLS agreement this September, as I remain deeply mistrustful of the monitoring and management of the schemes and the manner in which NE/RPA staff "work" with farmers these days, with the odd exception. I looked at the Mid Tier scheme but while I appreciated the more accessible options on offer, I remained sceptical of the policing, and also the risk of any option suddenly falling foul of NE and being subject to an EIA, and thereby possibly sterilising the land for future farming.

I was asked to consider the SFI Pilot scheme but I felt that it was overly complex and unsuited for my farming business at the time. I went instead for Severn Trent Water STEPS scheme. In my view, a model of how to design and run a simple scheme that is clear and concise and more importantly, targeted at a regional area with on the whole, a specific aim. ie improvements in water quality by a variety of means, in targeted locations. STEPS also has an excellent farmer/Adviser ratio and all the farmers I know, value that close accessibilty from someone on the ground.

SFI options need to reflect the most sensible farming and business mantra, KISS, Keep it Simple, Stupid.

Much discussion has been had here on TFF over the recent months, and it becomes ever more apparent that properly funded buffer strips against water course and other bodies, will offer one of the greatest "public good" options that can be easily achieved on ALL land. 10-12m margins and a decent payment/ha, possibly some tweaking for visual effects, but essentially, reducing further, pesticide residues and fertiliser run-off from farming.

Will SFI offer a simple watercourse buffer option for all, with no add-ons, to reflect this public good and if not, Why not????

Can DEFRA give a categorical assurance that ANY and ALL land put into a future scheme option, that is not rotational, will put it in writing for any SFI Agreement, that this land cannot be subject to a retrospective action from NE and/or any other body, to lock it into non productive state, and that on the cessation of the Agreement, the land can return to Agriculture if wanted by the Applicant.

Thanks for the reference to the Severn Trent Water scheme - we'll have a look and see what we can learn from how they've done it.

I agree we need to make the new schemes as straightforward as possible for people and we're working to do that, in partnership with farmers in our tests and trials and the pilot.

We have a waterbody buffering standard in the pilot, and we've designed it to be simple and straightforward to follow. We'd welcome any feedback on that.

 

[Clive]

Ive not had a response

lots of question, limited time, I’m sure Janet and her team will do their best to answer as many as they can

can we try stick to questions as well please

 

[steveR]

lots of question, limited time, I’m sure Janet and her team will do their best to answer as many as they can

can we try stick to questions as well please

Yes Boss

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Any further ideas for things we can do to earn your trust very gratefully received!

I struggle with this Janet. I, like many, am old enough to remember a locally based MAFF adviser who was akin to what is called an "Extension officer" abroad. He (or she) was qualified and experienced enough in farming to offer advice to farmers on how to improve their farms and to act as the link to gevernment schemes in doing do. Their role was one of working with farmers on a local basis.

DEFRA simply don't have the budget or staff to do that now. It appears that you don't have the skillset within DEFRA either judging by how hard to actually incorporate into our businesses many of the proposals are. The problems that we point out here on TFF and in the T&T's we take part in would be evident to such suitably experienced staff in the early scheme design phase.

DEFRA are also "tarred by the same brush" due to being the sponsoring body for the RPA, the EA and Natural England, all of whom are seen by many farmers as existing simply to catch farmers out for even innocent mistakes and apply harsh penalties. Changing the engagement culture within these other bodies will be crucial to regaining trust.

 

[Bossfarmer]

Do you think this should be a uk policy rather then three different governments having their own agenda??

Each country is vastly different therefore our own policies are essential, the biggest issue most had with the EU policy was that different countries and types of farming were forced under the same framework

 

[topground]

lots of question, limited time, I’m sure Janet and her team will do their best to answer as many as they can

can we try stick to questions as well please

Is there any reason why all of the questions asked through this thread could not be answered over the next couple off days rather than trying to cover a everything in an hour?