The Carbon Offset Consortium and farmland purchase.

[vantage]

Apparently a consortium of large businesses have and are buying up farms, to plant up with trees and claim carbon credits for their businesses. Here in Wales , 18 farms in mid Wales and 10 in Carmarthenshire have been sold.
As this happens rural areas will depopulate, here in Wales the language and culture will be threatened and potentially productive farm land is lost. What do others think?

 

[Raider112]

Apparently a consortium of large businesses have and are buying up farms, to plant up with trees and claim carbon credits for their businesses. Here in Wales , 18 farms in mid Wales and 10 in Carmarthenshire have been sold.
As this happens rural areas will depopulate, here in Wales the language and culture will be threatened and potentially productive farm land is lost. What do others think?

I think it's disgusting but what can we do? money talks.
These companies will carry on polluting just as much as ever and farmers are paying the price.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Two sides to it really. Is it not farmers who are selling to them?

I agree that the underlying idea is wrong, to be allowed to use carbon offsets.

 

[The Seeker]

fine by me makes uk farmland that is unplanted more valuable , ofcoure i think its utterly stupid to produce a damaging product and think you can buy an offset to elevate the guilt ... utter rubbish but that's the lay of the land

 

[vantage]

Two sides to it really. Is it not fakes who are selling to them?

I agree that the underlying idea is wrong, to be allowed to use carbon offsets.

I don’t know. All I do is that all of a sudden land around here is £10k+ an acre, for SDA . Pricing regular commercial farmers out of the market.

 

[The Seeker]

at 10k for sda i think that is well farmed enough

 

[7610 super q]

As a land seller ( hopefully ) in the near ish future.......I say good....
Also, more land taken out of food production, better for those still in the game ?

 

[serf]

fine by me makes uk farmland that is unplanted more valuable , ofcoure i think its utterly stupid to produce a damaging product and think you can buy an offset to elevate the guilt ... utter rubbish but that's the lay of the land

You bout read my mind, even though all this stuff boils your p!ss we need to just look at it from the other angle and say carry on.... it leaves less ground to produce on so those left producing should have a commodity that is more valuable.
Even though it goes against the grain !

 

[vantage]

As a land seller ( hopefully ) in the near ish future.......I say good....
Also, more land taken out of food production, better for those still in the game ?

You bout read my mind, even though all this stuff boils your p!ss we need to just look at it from the other angle and say carry on.... it leaves less ground to produce on so those left producing should have a commodity that is more valuable.
Even though it goes against the grain !

Won’t make a jot of difference to produce price from remaining land, produce will be imported to maintain a steady price.

 

[spin cycle]

does it make a lot of difference ....i mean it's either large outfit swallowing up smaller farms or corporations planting trees?

 

[serf]

Won’t make a jot of difference to produce price from remaining land, produce will be imported to maintain a steady price.

As long as there's enough to go round ! all fine and dandy when things are going OK but things change , few crap harvests ect then self preservation and they won't give a fudge about export to us .

 

[RhysT]

Apparently a consortium of large businesses have and are buying up farms, to plant up with trees and claim carbon credits for their businesses. Here in Wales , 18 farms in mid Wales and 10 in Carmarthenshire have been sold.
As this happens rural areas will depopulate, here in Wales the language and culture will be threatened and potentially productive farm land is lost. What do others think?

They’ve apparently bought 250acres approx of prime Towy valley land just north of llangadog alongside the A40. Be a travesty to see it under trees!

 

[Top Tip.]

There is a critical mass needed of producers,when we drop below that the whole industry starts to suffer as abattoirs start to close and feed merchants shut there doors.

 

[Red Fred]

We have been approached again this week by a local developer who needs 5 acres of reed bed to offset the phosphate produced by the new houses planned further up the catchment. As the starting offer is at least 10 times the ag value, it is going to take some serious thinking to decide what to do since I am nearing 60 and have no offspring to carry on.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

We have been approached again this week by a local developer who needs 5 acres of reed bed to offset the phosphate produced by the new houses planned further up the catchment. As the starting offer is at least 10 times the ag value, it is going to take some serious thinking to decide what to do since I am nearing 60 and have no offspring to carry on.

Talk to your accountant (and probably a land agent too) before going further. There'd be a fair tax bill on that so you might only end up with 3x at value.

Also, depending how many houses involved, even that sum could be a cheap first shot by them. Without it they simply can't start building.....

I'd talk to them if it was me and only affected 5 acres. Way better than the whole farm going under trees at 10% over at value imho.

 

[teslacoils]

We have been approached again this week by a local developer who needs 5 acres of reed bed to offset the phosphate produced by the new houses planned further up the catchment. As the starting offer is at least 10 times the ag value, it is going to take some serious thinking to decide what to do since I am nearing 60 and have no offspring to carry on.

Get them to build you a nice retirement bungalow.

 

[SRRC]

Apparently a consortium of large businesses have and are buying up farms, to plant up with trees and claim carbon credits for their businesses. Here in Wales , 18 farms in mid Wales and 10 in Carmarthenshire have been sold.
As this happens rural areas will depopulate, here in Wales the language and culture will be threatened and potentially productive farm land is lost. What do others think?

It's potentially a new income stream for farmers, you don't need to sell to benefit.

 

[Red Fred]

Talk to your accountant (and probably a land agent too) before going further. There'd be a fair tax bill on that so you might only end up with 3x at value.

Also, depending how many houses involved, even that sum could be a cheap first shot by them. Without it they simply can't start building.....

I'd talk to them if it was me and only affected 5 acres. Way better than the whole farm going under trees at 10% over at value imho.

At the moment they have just made a couple of informal approaches but I think I'll meet the guy to find out more about their idea. The development plan is for 150 homes and permission seems to hinge on this pollution offsetting, so paying out the value of 1 home to get the rest built isn't really a big deal to them. From what i have been told, the District Council have gone overboard on offsetting since the extent of sewage pollution by the water companies over on Southampton Water was revealed recently, and no developments are going ahead without a plan in place

 

[Rossymons]

Get them to build you a nice retirement bungalow.

Given the price of building, various planning regs and complicated tax issues...really spec it out and have the best of everything. It ain't the stupidest idea!

 

[Still Farming]

Apparently a consortium of large businesses have and are buying up farms, to plant up with trees and claim carbon credits for their businesses. Here in Wales , 18 farms in mid Wales and 10 in Carmarthenshire have been sold.
As this happens rural areas will depopulate, here in Wales the language and culture will be threatened and potentially productive farm land is lost. What do others think?

What sort of money are these companies paying is key to it all possibly?
In England farmers are paid to retire?
The Senedd's has no plans for this scheme here allegedly so if farmers have no one to carry on or wants to carry on then possibly looks favourable?