Thoughts on loosing BPS and replacing with ELMS?

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
So that reinforces the point that others have made. There should be a mix of options to choose from, to achieve your points, but none of those options should be compulsory.

The three-tier system they are currently proposing (introductory, intermediate, advanced) needs scrapping. To be replaced by a range of options you can choose from to get your points ?
There MUST be flexibility to match the options to your specific farm situation if it is to deliver....
 
if older farmers retire and take the lump sum , their is still one major hurdle with out subsidies the young farmers which government wants encourage won’t survive on the smaller farms any way so it’s all a waste of time. What will happen is very large contractors and farmers 5000 / 20000 ac will mop up the blocks of land . You hardly ever see farms come on the market for rent etc , they just end up being farmed by the largest guys in the area. Must be some cash pocketing by these agents ?
This is why ive been saying for years subsidy has largely kept the smaller farms in the game, look to nz etc its obvious farms will have to become huge to be commercially viable
 

Old Tup

Member
Set the cap at £50k per holding 625 acres (£5,000,000) nominal assert value and you might get some support from the general public.
Support from the General Public?
The very hot place might just freeze over first…
£20 being deducted from Universal Benefit….
Increasing NIC to pay for social care.
But Farmers can continue to receive £50k?
Cant see very much public support in that…
 

Jackov Altraids

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
We don't know the details yet but the government has made repeated references to 'alternative enforcement methods' when the subs have gone. It will be interesting to see how they will go about it but it would appear they have no intention of relinquishing control whether farmers are receiving any payments or not.

The Agriculture Bill provides powers that enable a safe transition away from the CAP and cross compliance. Establishing a future regulatory model will take time, and we want to work with the sector to get it right whilst ensuring we always have a robust system of inspection and enforcement in place to maintain regulatory standards.

Regulation and enforcement
Between 2021 and 2024, we will make improvements to the way regulation and enforcement work.
When we delink payments in 2024, we will stop using cross-compliance as the main way to inspect and enforce against baseline regulations (the regulatory requirements all farms have to meet). We will work with farmers to design a new approach that is more fair, proportionate and effective.

2.4 Regulation of legal requirements
By the end of the agricultural transition, we will have a reformed regulatory regime for
agriculture. From 2021 we will start improving the way we manage within the existing rules
and processes. We will consult during the early transition to allow a new regulatory
approach to be implemented from 2024.
We want a clear distinction, and coherent relationship, between the basic requirements
farmers are obliged to meet by law, and scheme standards where they are paid to go
beyond this minimum.

How can they police our legal obligations?
We currently agree to any checks when we claim BPS. If a farmer doesn't sign any agreement, they will have no authority to check private property without a huge shift towards becoming a police state.
They will have to try and sell the principle of being policed by satellite which I'm not sure will be very popular with anybody.
I understand that authorities have powers to access businesses to make checks but how will they differentiate between a hedge in a field,park,garden etc.?
It will also cost a lot of time and money compared to the current situation where they can act as judge and jury and deduct payments.
If a government that has done everything possible to destroy British farming thinks that farmers will be cooperative to their wishes in the future, they will be rather mistaken.
 

delilah

Member
I don't think that the bog standard farmer as represented on here need worry too much about 'public support'. If the media come after ELMS in its current form, it will be to expose the ways in which it perpetuates the worst aspects of the current regime, ie the sums paid to Britains largest landowners.

Weighted payments anyone ? Higher rate on the first xHa ?
 

Old Tup

Member
I don't think that the bog standard farmer as represented on here need worry too much about 'public support'. If the media come after ELMS in its current form, it will be to expose the ways in which it perpetuates the worst aspects of the current regime, ie the sums paid to Britains largest landowners.

Weighted payments anyone ? Higher rate on the first xHa ?
From the higher reaches of a Government pledged to pursue World Wide Free Trade at any cost…
Why?
 

delilah

Member
From the higher reaches of a Government pledged to pursue World Wide Free Trade at any cost…
Why?

Rubbish as ELMS in its current form is, I don't see much in there that supports any concerns, real or imaginary, about free trade.
You missed off your attachment.
 

Jimdog1

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Devon
Bps is a simple way for government to pump money into the rural economy. If, as seems likely the take up of SFI or ELMS or whatever it is called is poor the rural economy will show a downturn as farmers have less money to spend. The original European farm subsidy schemes were designed for the purpose of keeping French and German farmers on the land because the French had experience of migration to the cities with civil unrest and revolution and their politicians didn’t want to face Mdm Guillotine. If there is rural depopulation there are social consequences and the government need to take this into account because the costs will far outweigh any savings in the subsidy to farmers.
The government will also lose control of the countryside, imagine being able to cut your hedges when it suited you because there is no subsidy to lose!
This sums up how I see it. If the price of what we produce fails to plug the gap that is the loss of bps then it will be our service industries that will suffer first followed by the wider rural economy. Production will fall and the government will lack the tools to kick start it. If the supermarket shelves are empty then the government will fall. The supply of food has rarely been so precarious - the government should remember perhaps who keeps a those shelves stocked.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
So that reinforces the point that others have made. There should be a mix of options to choose from, to achieve your points, but none of those options should be compulsory.

The three-tier system they are currently proposing (introductory, intermediate, advanced) needs scrapping. To be replaced by a range of options you can choose from to get your points ?
Seems to ring a bell here.... :)

And why not, ELS worked and could have been made to work better without the convoluted grief that HLS became.
 

delilah

Member
Seeing as all countries have taken a hit with covid and also we are all in the same boat with global warming is Europe in a position to carry on with the subsidy that we all used to enjoy?

Covid and climate change are two good reasons to support food security. Which is why Defra have to ensure that ELMS ticks the productivity box as well as the eco one.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 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

  • 1,291
  • 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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