23rd December 2020

The Future of BPS in England

When you sit down to look at your BPS claim in the Spring, you’ll be pleased to know that you can throw away your calculator. The 2021 BPS claim has been simplified so you will no longer need to provide Crop Diversification or Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs). This is a welcome relief for farmers who felt the struggle of meeting the three crop rule or finding enough hedges to meet the EFA requirements. Cross border claims are now a thing of the past and you will need to submit each claim to each paying agency individually from 2021 onwards.

Looking further forward, the news isn’t so bright. The BPS payments you currently receive will reduce each year and will be halved by 2024. The scheme will hit the highest claimants the hardest with an ‘income tax type approach’ to the reductions:

	2021	2022	2023	2024
Payments up to £30,000	5%	20%	35%	50%
£30-50,000	10%	25%	40%	55%
£50-150,000	20%	35%	50%	65%
Over £150,000	25%	40%	55%	70%

 

After 2024 is it thought that the payment will be de-linked from the land, meaning that future payments won’t be based on how many hectares you put on your claim form.

Post-2024 will see the new ELM (Environmental Land Management) scheme come into play across England which will comprise of:

• Sustainable Farming Incentive – Intended to give as many farmers as possible the chance to get paid for public goods. Currently at pilot stage and will be rolled out further in 2022.
• Local Nature Recovery – Further payments for more specific environmental benefits.
• Landscape Recovery – A larger scale, possibly collaborative scheme.

The current Mid Tier scheme will continue to be open for applications up to 2023 and there’s hopes that a transition could be made to ELMs for farmers already in a Mid Tier agreement.

There will be much more emphasis on funding towards equipment and training to increase farm productivity and technological benefits with the introduction of the Farm Investment Fund, Farming Transformation Fund, Future Farming Resilience Support to name a few, and a new Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture (IAH) to provide learning and training.

The future of BPS in Wales

Simplification of the 2021 BPS claim means you will no longer need to adhere to the Crop Diversification guidelines, the time limit for submitting supporting information will be extended to 31 December, and Advance Payments of 70% of your expected claim will be made in October with the final part coming when your claim has been fully validated. There will also be less inspections and less harsh penalties for over-declaration.

The Sustainable Farming Scheme is still in the design stages and we await further details. However, we would urge you to take a look at the grants currently available for Welsh farmers. We can assist with grant applications or point you in the right direction so please contact us for more information.