Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Agricultural Transition Plan 2021 to 2024 on (a) uplands and (b) hill farming businesses.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
I recognise that the uplands and hill farming businesses face specific issues and challenges. That is why we have designed policies to allow for a managed adjustment, a seven-year transition, that will give farmers and land managers, including in upland areas time to adapt to the changes.
We published two assessments, one in 2018 and again in 2019, and we are planning to publish further analysis by autumn this year. This will analyse farm incomes and how these will change between now and 2027.
Our latest preliminary findings are consistent with previous analysis that is publicly available, and we find that uplands farmers are reliant on Direct Payments, to the extent that their Direct Payments make up essentially all of their annual profit or farm business income.
The analysis also shows that there are opportunities for upland farmers. For instance, uplands farmers currently receive a relatively high proportion of their income through environmental land management environment payments. They are therefore well placed to benefit as more public money is provided through such schemes. In designing these schemes, we know that the payment rates need to be attractive to achieve the levels of uptake and environmental outcomes we need to see as well as set at a fair rate.
There is significant potential for upland farmers to reduce costs and improve businesses practices and we are providing grants and targeted resilience support to facilitate that, as well as investing in longer term measures such as research and development. We also anticipate rent adjustments which could benefit upland tenant farmers.
Asked by: Lord Jones (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to enhance the prospects of hill farmers after Brexit.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Hill farmers will benefit from our future agriculture policies, along with other types of farmers and land managers. Having left the EU, we will replace the current subsidy system, which simply pays farmers based on the total amount of land farmed, and instead reward them for the work they do to enhance the environment and improve animal welfare. We will also help farmers to produce high quality food in a more sustainable way.
Our upland landscapes and habitats are well placed to provide the public goods that are valued by society and our intention is that upland farmers will be sufficiently rewarded to deliver them.
We want to give all farmers, including hill farmers in the uplands, as much certainty as possible. The Direct Payments to Farmers (Legislative Continuity) (DPLC) Bill has received Royal Assent in January 2020. It will provide continuity for farmers across all upland areas in the UK and ensure farming subsidies are paid for 2020. Furthermore, we have guaranteed that any projects under CAP Pillar 2 where funding has been agreed before the end of 2020 will be funded for their full lifetime. This means that the Government will continue to fund farmers, land managers and rural businesses for these projects until they finish.
Our Transition plans, as indicated in the new Agriculture Bill, are based on a seven-year Transition period. This will give hill farmers and land managers time to adapt and plan for the changes we need to make in moving to the new approach.
During the transition we will offer financial assistance to enable upland farmers to invest in the equipment, technology and infrastructure that they need to improve their productivity, manage the environment sustainably and deliver other public goods. We will be also be investing over £1 million in 2020 in a package for farmers to support their business resilience and personal wellbeing as we go through these changes.
Our new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme will enable upland farmers to receive payment for the vital environmental public goods they provide, alongside the crucial role they play in vibrant communities and producing delicious food.
Upland farmers play a vital role as stewards of the countryside. They already provide many environmental benefits, such as clean air and water, and help maintain our most iconic landscapes. Upland farmers will therefore be well placed to benefit from our new ELM scheme, which will reward farmers for the public goods they provide.
Hill farms are an iconic part of our heritage. The new Agriculture Bill provides reassurance that hill farmers will be able to benefit for the service they provide in protecting our cultural and natural heritage.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the financial effect on hill farmers of recent changes to the CAP which takes into account the abolition of the Uplands Entry Level Stewardship and the increase in the moorlands rate and the severely disadvantaged area rate.
Answered by George Eustice
We published an analysis of the financial impact of changes to the CAP on pillar 1 in chapter 7 of the Government's initial response to the CAP Reform consultation (www.gov.uk/government/consultations/common-agricultural-policy-reform-implementation-in-england).
In their replies to the consultation some stakeholders expressed concern about the scale of the uplift merited in the moorland. We therefore undertook a further analysis and discussed the data with farming and environmental stakeholders before reaching a final decision on the appropriate rate for the moorland region.
We estimate 2015 farm business income for grazing livestock farms in the uplands to be broadly unchanged from current levels in real terms. This takes into account the changes to pillar 1 including payment rates, greening, reductions in direct payments over €150,000 and the end of new Uplands Entry Level Stewardship agreements. The analysis does not take into account any changes in land rent prices or changes in farm structure or behaviour.