2m decision will hit ELS uptake

THE GOVERNMENT will struggle to get 70% of farmers to sign up to the Entry Level Scheme following its cross-compliance decision, a leading firm of advisers has warned.

DEFRA secretary Margaret Beckett announced on Thurs (Jul 22) that farmers in England will be required to not to cultivate within 2m of the centre of a hedge or ditch from July 2005.

Farm leaders had campaigned that this should be an option under the ELS rather than obligatory for everyone wanting to claim a single farm payment.

Christopher Monk, head of the farming department at Strutt and Parker, said leaving the 2m rule in the ELS would have made it more palatable to farmers.

“There‘s an age-old adage that says a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. The 2m rule [within the ELS] would have been the equivalent of a liberal sprinkling.

“It would have made the scheme more palatable, more digestible. The proposition, without it, is far less sweet, and much less attractive.”

Mr Monk said if government wanted to achieve its 70% sign-up target for the scheme it would have to get the support of farmers and their advisers.

“Unless the sweetener of an accessible Entry Level Scheme comes along then I think the government is in for a very hard sell, and its sign-up targets will be wide of the mark.”

The Country Land and Business Association said protecting hedges and ditches was something that everyone cared about, but it should have been delivered through the ELS.

“This decision once again indicates the inability of DEFRA and its agencies to resist endlessly tinkering with micro land management instead of letting farmers get on with the job.”