Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to
ensure small family farms remain economically viable during the
transition to the Future Farming Programme for England.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs () (Con)
My Lords, I declare my farming interests as set out in the
register. We will reinvest money saved by reducing direct
payments—initially applying smaller reductions for farmers with
the smallest claim sizes—into improved environmental schemes and
opportunities for all farmers to get their businesses ready for
the transition. These opportunities include grants to invest in
productivity measures, support for new entrants, farmer-led
innovations and improving farm resilience and sustainability.
(Lab)
I thank the Minister for that reply, but he will know that farm
incomes are already falling. By 2023, the smallest farms could be
losing as much as 35% of the direct payments they received under
the CAP. Of course, we all want the sustainable farming incentive
to work, but the transition is relatively short and the Secretary
of State’s latest letter still does not provide the detail that
farmers need to plan ahead. I ask the Minister to confirm that
the practical financial impacts of the new scheme are being
regularly reviewed. Can he confirm whether contingency plans are
in place to ensure continued farm viability, particularly for
smaller family farms?
(Con)
I am grateful to the noble Baroness for allowing me the
opportunity to say: yes, precisely. We monitor farm incomes
carefully and have data going back many years. The current area
payments under the basic payment scheme are no friend of the
smaller farmer: the largest 10% of farms in the country receive
50% of the money. We are trying to create a fairer system, and
not only so that smaller farmers receive a fair amount. Many
farmers who do not receive any—for example, 40% of sheep
farmers—will have access to these funds.
(Con)
Will my noble friend take this opportunity to correct the record?
He inadvertently stated that tenant farmers had not complained
about their status under the new schemes. If, as our honourable
friend in the other place has said, legislation is required to
amend the tenancy agreements, will the Government bring this
forward as a matter of urgency?
(Con)
I am grateful to my noble friend for the chance to clarify my
remarks made to her last month with regard to the Tenant Farmers
Association. The TFA provides a constructive contribution to
considerations on the letting of agricultural land and a huge
input into our rollout of the new schemes. The Government are
working to ensure that the design of our future farming schemes
is accessible to as many farmers as possible, including tenant
farmers. For example, we have designed the sustainable farming
incentive scheme rules for 2022 to have shorter agreements and
more flexibility to better suit tenant farmers, and we have
removed the requirements to demonstrate landlord consent. We
recognise that some agreements prevent farmers getting income
from schemes because of restrictive clauses, and we are working
with the TFA to correct that.
(CB)
My Lords, while I appreciate the Government’s support for small
farmers, as I understand it, unless your farm is over 5 hectares
you are not eligible for these schemes. You also have to have
been in receipt of the basic payment system to qualify. Can the
Minister outline whether this is correct?
(Con)
There is a threshold for access to the scheme, but it is designed
to ensure that we are reaching as many small farmers as possible.
As I said earlier, many do not receive any support, particularly
in sectors such as the poultry and pig sectors. This is an
opportunity for many of them to get access to government money
that would not otherwise be available under area payment
schemes.
(Con)
My Lords, I declare my interests as a director of a tenant farm
and a trustee of the Prince’s Countryside Fund, whose aim is to
enable family farms to thrive. An increasing amount of future
farm income will come from the various ELM schemes. However,
areas such as biodiversity offsetting and tree planting do not
fall within the definition of agriculture. Over a third of
farmers in the UK are tenants, and virtually every tenant farmer
in the UK will have a tenancy clause that requires them to use
land exclusively for agriculture. If these tenants enter these
environmental schemes, they may be in breach of their tenancy,
and there would be a huge risk of an incontestable notice to quit
from their landlord. What steps are the Government taking to
ensure that tenant farmers, particularly those on short-term or
restrictive tenancies, will not be constrained by landlords from
entering new environmental schemes?
(Con)
I am grateful to my noble friend. We are working really hard to
resolve some issues that predate the changes that we are making.
Countryside Stewardship, for example, has had this difficulty
with tree planting and possible wetland creation. We want to make
sure that we are getting the money to the active occupiers of the
land. We are working with the Tenant Farmers Association where we
believe that there may still be issues relating to some aspects
of the agreements. We are very keen to keep my noble friend and
other Members of the House informed of those discussions.
(CB)
My Lords, in the last 10 years, we have lost something like
one-third of small abattoirs, and yet these are very valuable to
the rural economy. They improve animal welfare by shortening
journey times to slaughter, and, importantly, they aid livestock
farmers to be financially self-sustainable by allowing local
killing and processing, allowing them to add value and produce
food of good provenance, good quality and low food miles. What
plans do the Government have to support small abattoirs and
prevent further loss of this important aspect of rural
infrastructure?
(Con)
The noble Lord is absolutely right to raise this. At Defra, we
chair the small abattoirs working group, which brings together
industry representatives. I recently visited a project that is,
in part, supported by government funding and which seeks to
create mobile abattoirs, which we think could be particularly
valuable in certain areas. We continue to find other ways of
trying to support this vital sector to shorten food miles and
improve farm animals’ access to properly run abattoirs, and I
will keep the noble Lord in touch with our progress.
My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Rural
Coalition. Of course, one of the things that is really affecting
the viability of small family farms is rural crime: theft of
equipment, fly-tipping and, in particular, hare-coursing. As the
Minister knows, we have been trying to bring forward amendments
to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which Her
Majesty’s Government are resisting. They have the enthusiastic
support of the NFU, police from all around the country and
Members from every side of this House, so will the Minister tell
us the timetable to introduce provisions to try to deal with this
very harmful crime?
(Con)
The right reverend Prelate is absolutely right to raise this. I
speak with some experience, as a regular victim of such crime.
Like everyone, I would like to see greater measures brought in.
We are working closely with our Home Office colleagues to ensure
that proper provision can be brought in to clamp down on this
particularly unpleasant crime, and I will keep him informed.
(Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister recognise that, while we may broadly
support the general direction of agricultural policy, a number of
farmers, particularly more elderly ones, do not think that they
will be able to cope with the new system and are considering
quitting and selling up? In the light of that, rather than allow
their land to be bought by big agribusinesses or speculative
funds, would it not be sensible for the Government to facilitate
counties acquiring that land to establish a new generation of
county farms and bring a new generation of farmers into the
industry?
(Con)
The county farm structure is very attractive to me and my fellow
Ministers, and there are certainly discussions on trying to
expand it. We are also trying to make sure that those who want to
exit the industry can do so with dignity and some resource,
through the lump sum payment. We are also supporting new
entrants: it is absolutely key that we create some mobility in
the industry. So a combination of that and a potential increase
in county farms is, I think, the right way forward.
The Lord Privy Seal () (Con)
My Lords, the noble Lord, of Cheltenham, wishes to speak
virtually. I think that this is a convenient point for me to call
him.
of Cheltenham (LD) [V]
With the reduction in help for agriculture since we left the EU
and fears about unfair competition from new trade agreements,
what special assistance are the Government considering so that
British farms can continue to be viable and contribute to the
making of—according to the British Cheese Board—more than 1,700
delicious British cheeses, including Stinking Bishop?
(Con)
I say to the noble Lord and the creators of that delicious cheese
that there is no reduction in support. We have ring-fenced the
amount of money that goes into the basic payments scheme, and we
are rolling this out in a different, more effective and fairer
way. In addition to that, we have, for example, our farming in
protected landscapes fund; our farming investment fund to help
innovation; our research and development and innovation fund; a
slurry investment scheme, which is of particular interest to
dairy farmers; and farm resilience support mechanisms. So there
are a number of ways in which we are supporting precisely the
kind of farms that the noble Lord is talking about.
