Agriculture: Subsidies

(asked on 17th July 2019) - View Source

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

[Suggested redraft] To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of farms at risk of closing down as a result of a new systems of agricultural payments as outlined in the Government's policy paper of 12 September 2018 on health and harmony: the future for food, farming and the environment in a green Brexit, what the size of those farms are; and the type of farming undertaken by those farms.


Answered by
George Eustice Portrait
George Eustice
This question was answered on 1st August 2019

In September 2018, alongside the Agriculture Bill and policy statement, the Government published an ‘Analysis of the impacts of removing Direct Payments’. This provided an overview of the potential impacts to different farm types and sizes of moving away from direct payments and introducing a new system of public money for public goods.

Direct payments are arbitrary payments based on land area that tend to favour larger land owners rather than smaller family farming businesses. In England we will phase out direct payments during an agricultural transition, giving time for farmers to adjust. Phasing out direct payments will free up money so we can reward farmers for delivering public goods, including environmental outcomes and animal welfare.

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