Funding to help farmers through BPS transition
GOVERNMENT funding worth up to £9 million looks set to be awarded to organisations supporting farmers as subsidies are gradually phased out.
The Future Farming Resilience Fund (FFRF) will be awarding grants to industry groups so that they can support farmers and land managers who are in receipt of Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments.
These organisations will, in turn, reach an estimated 9,000 people to offer free of charge support, which could be delivered in the form of workshops run by experts or through direct, one-to-one advice.
Launched by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), it comes as the seven-year agricultural transition period from 2021 to 2027 is now under way, with the BPS subsidy system to be replaced with the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme.
The average British family farm will see subsidy cuts of more than 50% by 2024, the department confirmed last November.
Speaking as applications opened last week, Defra said its ‘resilience support’ should help individual farmers and land managers to learn more about the impact of reductions to direct payments on their business, as well as how their business models might need to adapt and planning for business, performance and farm succession purposes.
“The way that farming is funded is changing and we want to support farmers and land managers through this transition. We want farmers and land managers to feel supported to make the best decisions for their farms, families and future.”
Defra continued: “The support will be offered free of charge to farmers and land managers by organisations known and trusted in the farming community. It could be delivered in the form of workshops supported by experts or through direct, one-toone advice.
“We’ve had to revise the timetable for the roll-out of the fund given the timing of the launch of this tender exercise. Therefore we now expect that the support to farmers and land managers will be available from late July/ August rather than May.”
Earlier this month, Defra set out details of the Sustainable Farming
Incentive (SFI) pilot. The first of three schemes to be piloted and codesigned, with further information on the other two - Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery - expected later in the year, the SFI will support approaches to farming that deliver for the environment, such as actions to improve soil health, restore hedgerows and integrated pest management.
Defra said the pilot will “build on the great success of the ongoing programme of tests and trials”.
The deadline for submitting Future Farming Resilience Fund applications is Friday, May 7. The successful grant applicants will be announced in July and support will be scaled up from April 2022.
For further details and to apply, visit www.defrafarming.blog.gov.uk.