NEWS LETTER
Backdated Changes to 1,800 ELS Agreements
Around 1,800 Entry Level and Organic Environmental Stewardship agreements (ELS/OELS) with 2007 start dates are at risk of becoming invalid following a backdated change to the ELS rules. A further 800 agreements will lose their surplus points used as protection against errors.
On December 6th Defra finally announced ratification by the EU, of the Rural Development Plan for England, (RDPE) covering the period 2007-2013, which paves the way for full implementation of the Programme in the New Year.
As well as support for woodland and energy crops, around £ 2.9 billion of the total £ 3.9 billion budget will be allocated to ELS/OELS and the Higher Level Environmental Stewardship Scheme (HLS).
However, in order to secure the funding Defra has had to amend the rules of some of the schemes, which will be backdated to agreements established during 2007 on a provisional basis.
By far the greatest changes will be made to ELS/OELS agreements where the options for management plans, (soil, nutrient, manure and crop protection), will no longer count towards the requisite points threshold. In total these plans provided up to 30% of the points, and to replace these points will inevitably mean more land being taken out of agricultural production.
Previous ELS/OELS agreements will not be affected until they are renewed after the initial five year period. Natural England say that, of the 5,400 provisional agreements it has issued this year, about 1,800 will now fall below the 30 point threshold as a result of the management plan option being suspended.
It will be writing to these farmers in the coming weeks and aims to help them take on other options to get them back up above 30 points. It is understood that no new options have been introduced and the current points for other options remains unaltered. Affected farmers, who no longer want to be part of the ELS, will be able to opt out without penalty, and providing they have met all the conditions of their agreement, no payments will be recovered.
New Scheme Requirements for ELS
The EU Commission has for some time been extremely concerned that England has not adequately implemented the Nitrates Directive. Therefore, as a condition of Commission approval of the RDPE, ELS/OELS agreements in existing NVZs entered into after January 1st 2007 will have to meet new requirements, related to effective implementation of the Nitrates Directive. These are:
- Whole farm manure nitrogen loading limit – This requirement establishes a limit of 170 kg/ha of total Nitrogen from livestock manures (deposited during grazing and by spreading) per calendar year, averaged across the farmed area. The limit for organic manure spread on individual fields will remain at 250kg total N/ha/yr.
- Crop nitrogen requirement limit - requires farmers not to apply more nitrogen than the crop requires and to assume a level of efficiency of nitrogen supply from any manure applications. To meet this new requirement, farmers will in practice have to produce a management plan for their nitrogen applications over the coming year.
- Spreading techniques - prohibits the use of high trajectory, high pressure application techniques for spreading organic manure.
- Record-keeping - establishes an additional requirement for farmers to keep a record of their assessment of soil nitrogen supply, crop nitrogen requirements and imports of manure onto the farm.
Further details on exactly what farmers who currently have provisional ELS/OELS agreements in NVZs will need to do will be provided by Natural England within the next few weeks.
A clause permitting Defra to review the agreement in 2012, (the end of the current funding) will also be inserted in all new agreements running beyond 2015.
Changes to Energy Crops Scheme
Energy Crop Scheme agreements entered into since January 1st 2007 will see the establishment grant changed to 40% of actual costs. The change to actual rather than standard costs might help some growers whose costs are significantly higher than the industry’s average.
For applications made subsequent to October 1st 2007 Natural England will be writing to explain the changes and to give applicants the opportunity to change or withdraw their applications.
Woodland Grant Schemes
Of the total budget of £ 231 million Ministers have made available to forestry, at least £ 190 million will support RDPE forestry payments via EWGS and the closed WGS and Farm Woodland Schemes. The balance will be used to support woodland regeneration, SSSI target delivery and forestry partnership schemes. Once the legal decision formally approving the Programme is published, hopefully by the New Year, the Forestry Commission will be issuing contracts for all grant types.
What News on Diversification & Training Grants?
Defra speak: ‘Rural Development Agencies (RDAs) will seek to align the investment as closely as possible with other funding to maximise the opportunities and effectiveness of public sector support in rural areas. This means that the RDAs will be taking a proactive approach to project development under the new programme and may well be working through commissioning projects or working with groups of key businesses and/or community partners to develop projects that deliver multiple outcomes, as well as discussing projects with entrepreneurial businesses’.
In English. The RDAs will not be continuing with the Rural Enterprise Scheme, Vocational Training Scheme and Processing and Marketing Grant. Although support for similar types of schemes may be available, the requirements and support on offer will be different, and will depend on what regional priorities have been identified.
Smoke & Mirrors of Funding for the New RDPE
Although almost a year out of date by the time of implementation next spring, the £ 3.9 billion programme is almost double the amount of money available for the last programme (2000-2006). However, of this sum, around £ 1.5 billion will come from increased voluntary modulation of Single Payments, the balance coming from the UK Treasury and the EUSingle Payment Entitlements Revalued for 2007 Scheme Year
The new flat rate values for the non-SDA (Severely Disadvantaged Areas) England region under the 2007 Single Payment Scheme (SPS) will be € 95.13/Ha.
The conversion rate to be applied is € 1 = £ 0.69680 (based on the value of the Euro as at September 30th 2007). The entitlement values are established before final validation of a claim, and before deductions for European and National modulation or any penalties are applied. The SPS payment made will, therefore, be different from the values shown on the Entitlements Statement.
The RPA intends to send out 2007 Entitlements Statements in January 2008. These statements, which have been redesigned to improve the clarity of the information, will confirm the number and value of each farmer’s 2007 SPS entitlements. Guidance notes to explain the detail, including how the value of entitlements has been worked out, will be enclosed.
The revalued figures are used to calculate each individual SPS 2007 payment due. Full SPS payments will be made as soon as possible to farmers who activated their entitlements in 2007, and whose claim has been processed.
1,000 Lucky Farmers Receive Early Christmas Present
A live test of payment systems for the 2007 Single Payment Scheme (SPS) is underway and has resulted in a small number of eligible claimants receiving a full SPS payment. The RPA states that further final testing is scheduled to monitor the effectiveness of the payment process and an update of payments under the 2007 SPS Scheme will be published in due course.For Sale by Private Treaty
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For Sale by Private Treaty TIEN HOUSE Cerney Wick, |
Fire Guidance For Premises With Animals
The Government has recently published updated guidance on required fire risk assessments for any premises keeping animals.
The guidance is particularly relevant to equine establishments including stables and livery yards as well as other premises keeping livestock. Recent statistics show that 75% of all fires at stables are started deliberately and the guide suggests simple measures, such as storing flammable waste away from buildings housing animals and the careful siting of manure heaps, can help to reduce the risk.
The guidance is designed to allow an owner to undertake the risk assessment and is summarised as follows:
- Identify fire hazards
- Identify people at risk
- Evaluate, remove, reduce and protect from risk
- Record, plan, inform, instruct and train
- Review
The regulations are enforced by the local fire and rescue authority, with penalties for non-compliance including Enforcement Orders to improve procedures or in more extreme cases, prohibiting owners from using part or all of a building until improvements are made. Failure to comply could also invalidate any insurance cover in the event of a claim. A copy of the 150 page guidance is available on-line at www.communities.gov.uk/fire or alternatively contact a member of our Agricultural team on 01285 648 107.
For clear, objective and professional advice on these or any other agricultural and rural estate issues please contact one of our Agricultural Team:
Robert Young ~ Mark Hill ~ Christopher Graham ~ Paul Oughton ~ Brian Smith
Peter Kirby ~ Stuart Milsom ~ Margaret Bush ~ Bethany Morris
Tel. 01285 648 113 Fax.
01285 640 494
This newsletter is produced for guidance
only and should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. Accordingly
no liability or responsibility for any loss or damage can be accepted
by Moore Allen & Innocent or other contributors as a result of any
person, company or other organisation acting or refraining from acting
upon comment on this newsletter.
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