News & Insights

Defra has released further information on the Sustainable Farming Incentive. Here are the headlines.

The application window for 2022 Basic Payment Scheme claims opened this week. The window will remain open until Monday 16th May. However, it is worth considering your application early to allow time for making any necessary changes from last year.

The RPA have provided further detail on two previously announced aspects of the Agricultural Transition – the Lump Sum Exit Scheme and Delinked Payments. Additionally, the 2022 BPS Entitlement Transfer Window and applications for Countryside Stewardship Agreements starting on 1st January 2023 are NOW OPEN.

The FiPL Grant programme now has a rolling application window. This means that the previously announced deadline for applications of 31st January 2022 no longer applies.

As part of this week’s Oxford farming Conference, further information has been released by Defra on both ELMS and some good news in respect of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme revenue payment rates.

Following announcements by the RPA toward the end of 2021, we now have some clarity in respect of the roadmap for the transition away from the Basic Payment Scheme to the new farm support schemes which make up the Environmental Land Management Scheme.

DEFRA have announced how farmers can apply for the first arm of ELMS – the Sustainable Farming Incentive – in 2022. This will mark the start of the full scheme, which will grow incrementally until the full roll out in 2024/2025.

The long awaited Farming Investment Fund has been launched today. It provides grants to farmers, growers, foresters and related contractors so that they can invest in the equipment, technology and infrstructure they need to improve productivity and enhance the natural environment.

For those of you waiting for the launch of the Farming Investment Fund, which was due in October, the RPA has now confirmed that this will now be November.

The Rural Payments Agency has published the Basic Payment Scheme 2021 entitlement values. The payment per entitlement/ per hectare will be £233.30.

Every year the Rural Business Awards travel the country to find the UK’s best rural businesses – from local farmers, food producers, manufacturers, business services and destinations.

We understand that DEFRA received 938 applications for the SFI Pilot. They were received from mainly cereals and grazing farms of varying sizes, with some dairy farms and, perhaps as you would expect, only few horticulture, pig and poultry farms. 

Applications open next week for the first of three funds that will support the research and development of new ideas, technologies and processes in the agricultural and horticultural sectors.

DEFRA’s Strategy for Increased Biodiversity & Healthy Honey Bees DEFRA has published a Healthy Bee Plan for the next decade to increase the honey bee

Farming in Protected Landscapes or FiLP is a grant programme funded by DEFRA but administered by the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks across England, offering funding to farmers and land managers with land in, or neighbouring, these areas.

Lambert & Foster’s Rural Professional Team has now submitted a number of applications under the first Sustainable Farming Incentive Pilot.

Lambert & Foster’s Rural Professional Team has now submitted a number of applications under the first Sustainable Farming Incentive Pilot.

Individual grants of between £50,000 and £250,000 have been made available to Kent and Medway-based horticultural food and drinks businesses by Growing Kent and Medway

A new scheme administered by the Forestry Commission to provide financial support and additional financial incentives for the creation of new woodland.

For those clients farming in one of the South East’s Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or the South Downs National Park, this new Defra-funded programme may be of interest.

This week we have been notified that a number of our clients’ expressions of interest to be involved in the Sustainable Farming Incentive Pilot have been successful!

DEFRA have announced further details on the ‘Lump Sum Exit Scheme’ and ‘Delinked Payments’ elements of the Agricultural Transition. The announcement is under a Public Consultation so details may change.