Animal Feed

(asked on 3rd September 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to provide a support package for farmers who have had to use their winter store of feed as a result of the recent water shortage.


Answered by
George Eustice Portrait
George Eustice
This question was answered on 6th September 2018

The Government is committed to the very highest standards of animal welfare, and we have been focusing on practical measures to support farmers to increase their access to fodder and bedding.

In response to farmers’ queries, we have already clarified that English farmers, unlike farmers in some other EU countries where derogations from European law have been sought, have been able to use Ecological Focus Area fallow land for grazing since 1 July.

The UK was the first Member State to raise a concern with the Commission over the difficulties farmers faced in establishing Ecological Focus Area catch crops by the required date of 20 August. Other Member States agreed with us and the Commission agreed that “force majeure” should apply in these circumstances, so we could waive any penalties for farmers for non-compliance with EU law.

We are seeking a derogation from the EU requirement to sow only certain seed types which are unpalatable to livestock in Ecological Focus Areas as catch crop. The derogation we expect to secure this week will allow for grass and herbaceous forage to be grown in those areas, and for those areas to be grazed.

On Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and forestry legacy agreements, farmers are able to ask Natural England to agree a temporary variation to the agreement conditions, either as an Environmental Stewardship Derogation (to date, over 100 have been granted) or a Countryside Stewardship Minor and Temporary Adjustment (over 30 have so far been granted).

We are considering 30 agri-environment options where farmers and land managers are more likely to be affected by drought to see where we would accept temporary derogations. These include derogations that may help support grazing, bedding and fodder. In some cases, these could provide for earlier cutting, grazing or sowing of forage within certain parameters that are designed to minimise the overall environmental impact.

As regards cash flow, the Rural Payments Agency and Natural England are fully focused on getting basic payment scheme (BPS) and agri-environment scheme payments issued promptly. In addition, we are considering options such as bringing forward bridging payments for those BPS claimants who have not received their BPS 2018 payments by the end of December.

It is clear that the main impact of the recent drought conditions is likely to be felt by livestock farmers facing a shortage of fodder and that the full extent of the impacts may not be realised until later in the year. We have prioritised practical solutions to help farmers increase access to fodder and bedding both now and in the coming months. These actions will help farmers to limit the impact of extra feed costs by allocating land to forage growth and grazing, but we will keep the situation under review.

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