Mark Bridgeman, President of the Country Land and Business
Association which represents 30,000 rural businesses, said:
“From January, we will embark upon the biggest shift in
agricultural policy in 70 years. The new Environmental Land
Management scheme has the potential to be a genuinely
world-leading policy that will allow land managers and government
to work together to reverse biodiversity decline and mitigate
climate change, as well as deliver quality food, grown and reared
to the highest standards.
“But the transition from the old system to the new is fraught
with risk. Many farmers will find it hard to see past the drastic
cuts to the Basic Payment Scheme, that begin next year. The
average family farm will see cuts of over 50% before the new
schemes are fully available in 2024. The Government has announced
the Sustainable Farming Incentive to help bridge the gap, but
with only a month to go before the transition phase begins we
have no details whatsoever about how this will work on the ground
and the level of investment it will provide.
“This lack of detail risks casting a shadow over Government’s
laudable aims.”
Notes:
The CLA lobbied successfully for the Sustainable Farming
Incentive as a bridging mechanism to help farmers transition from
the old system to the new.
The CLA first lobbied for the ‘public money for public goods’
model over ten years ago and is strongly in favour of the
Environmental Land Management schemes
