Just another WordPress site
April 3, 2018 by admin
Filed under News & Business
Farmers are being urged to have their say after the government confirmed plans to phase out direct payments once the UK leaves the European Union.
Growers and livestock producers are being invited to a series of NFU roadshows across the region this month. The meetings are being held to discuss proposals contained in a government consultation launched by Defra secretary Michael Gove.
The consultation details plans to replace direct payments with a system of support based largely on rewarding farmers for undertaking environmental measures and other “public goods”, such as increasing public access to the countryside.
New system
Mr Gove has pledged that basic payments will be made on the same basis as now until 2019. But Defra is expected to start phasing in the new system soon afterwards – and says some £150m could be “freed up” for the environment in the first year alone by reducing basic payments.
The document sets out the government’s strategy for post-Brexit agricultural policy that will succeed the CAP. The NFU said the proposals were arguably the most significant development in government laying out UK agricultural policy since the 1947 Agriculture Act.
NFU president Minette Batters warned: “It is vital that we don’t start overhauling parts of the current system which support farmers in providing a healthy and affordable supply of food, without tested and operational alternative programmes and measures in place. “
Larger farms first
Eventually, the plan is to phase out altogether – with proposed scenarios looking at different timetables of five, seven and 10 years. The way this will be achieved is also subject to consultation, with one option being to target larger farm businesses first.
Ms Batters said she wanted to ensure each and every NFU member could have their say on what was a “very significant consultation” so the voice of farming and its interests were heard loud and clear by government and MPs.
The government says it keen to hear from farmers. Mr Gove has described the consultation as the start of a conversation. Speaking earlier this year, he said: “There are huge opportunities for those in agriculture to play the leading role in shaping the future strategy.”
Farmers wishing to attend a roadshow meeting should contact the NFU regional office at Newmarket on 01638 672100 or email meetingsea@nfu.org.uk