Farmers in England are set to benefit from a reduced administrative burden next year, as the government plans to end the need to comply with the EU-delivered greening requirements.
Instead, we will begin the move towards the new Environmental Land Management scheme, which the government says will deliver greater benefits for the environment.
The European Commission’s greening requirements for Direct Payments have required farmers to carry out specified practices in order to qualify for additional payments. These requirements have historically delivered little for the environment, as was documented in the European Court of Auditors 2017 Special Report on greening.
Under government plans to simplify the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and cut red tape faced by farmers during the agricultural transition period, farmers will have a reduced administrative burden and will no longer have to comply with the greening requirements with effect from the 2021 scheme year.
These changes will not affect the overall payment received by each farmer as the money will instead be added to farmers’ entitlements under the Basic Payment Scheme.
Environment Secretary, George Eustice, said:
“The so-called greening requirements have added little to our environmental efforts. We believe that farmers will benefit from this reduced bureaucratic burden next year as we begin the move towards our new Environmental Land Management scheme which will deliver greater benefits for the environment.
“We will be setting out more detail in the autumn on how we will ensure a smooth transition for our farmers, as they move towards our new, fairer agricultural system, which will reward them for the hard work that they do to protect our environment.”
NFU Vice President Tom Bradshaw said: “The NFU has been seeking clarification of the greening rules for the 2021 scheme for many months, particularly around the position on the crop diversification rules, so that our members can plan their cropping for harvest 2021.
“Although the NFU has never been critical of the environmental intent of the crop diversification requirements, we have always been concerned that this EU-legacy scheme has never been applied with the flexibility needed to suit varying weather and farming situations in Britain.
“I am hopeful that the changes to greening rules will remove some of the complexities farmers face in interacting with multiple scheme rules.
“At the same time, I am confident that farmers will use experiences of greening to develop their existing approaches to land management and build on their invaluable role working to protect and enhance the environment as we prepare for the introduction of a new domestic agricultural policy and Environmental Land Management Schemes."
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