David Richardson

I’M NOT SURE if the folks at the Rural Payments Agency realised what a difficult and disappointing harvest we had in this part of East Anglia or whether they’ve just got their computers working better.

Either way, they were kind enough to send our IACS cheque last week, earlier than ever before, and I would like to propose a vote of thanks. The next government cheque – the first single farm payment – may not arrive until the middle of 2006 and I am not looking forward to that delay. But at least the RPA got the old system going well before policy changes caused them to abandon it.

The other matter of concern when notification of the IACS payment came was the 3.5% deduction for modulation which, although expected under the new scheme has already started under the old one. Over the next few years modulation will erode 10% from SFPs.

The amount withheld will be diverted to pay for the Entry Level Stewardship Scheme. So the only way to recover that deduction is to apply to join the scheme when it is launched in March 2005. It will be a five-year agreement, open to all with no budgetary restriction, and payments for those who fulfil the criteria will be 30/ha/yr (12/acre/yr). In other words, every 10ha involved over the term of the agreement could be worth 1500 to the farmer.

The money won’t just be handed out. Farms will have to meet environmental and other objectives to target levels to qualify. Inevitably, there will be more form-filling – on paper or electronically – so that officials can verify eligibility. But inspections, it is claimed, will be limited to spot checks on 5% of farms a year and, once established, administration will be “minimised”, whatever that means. In any event, the potential rewards seem to me too attractive to ignore and we will be applying to join in due course.

The fact that we joined the old Countryside Stewardship Scheme when it started should, I believe, help towards the required number of points, as will our long-term membership of LEAF and adherence to its objectives.

We have also, with the invaluable help of our local FWAG man, recently signed up for Environmental Stewardship. It replaces Countryside Stewardship next year and will incorporate aspects of the old scheme together with measures likely to be included in cross-compliance and the Environmentally Sensitive areas Scheme. Although final details have not yet been ratified, there is an undertaking that they will be consistent with one another.

The measures we have agreed, such as increased buffer strips, areas planted to wild bird mixtures, public access and so on, together with the hedges, trees, ponds and so on the farm already features, should, we hope, enable us to meet the ELS points target. Environmental Stewardship alone should earn us 10 times more per year than Countryside Stewardship did and, although you don”t get paid twice for the same feature, we hope that by going for the ELS as well, we shall optimise our cash return from environmentalism.

As I hope the above makes clear, the amount of EU and government money going towards improving the environment in its widest sense will be significantly greater from next year. On this farm we are treating it as another diversification and as such aim to get the most out of it. If a better environment is what the public wants us to produce, as expressed through the government, then that is what we will sell them.

There is also the possibility, in due course, of going for the Higher Level Scheme. As its name implies, it will involve even higher standards of environmental management, which will be rewarded with increased payments. But the HLS will be discretionary – not every farm will be accepted – and will have a limited budget.

Maybe it is something we will look at in due course, but for the moment I reserve judgement. Let’s get the ELS going first.

For the avoidance of doubt, it is my opinion that anyone who does not apply to join the ELS will lose government money that has been taken from them but which they are entitled to recover. At the same time, it must be accepted that participation in the scheme will be complicated and, from my experience, is made much easier by the assistance of someone who knows his or her way round the details.

I know that may sound like an adviser’s benefit and that I may be inconsistent to advocate it. But there should be more than enough cash coming out of the ELS to pay for it.