Farmers to be paid for improving public access
Rewards after Brexit for landowners who protect the environment and open up the countryside
FARMERS will be rewarded for opening up the countryside to the public and enhancing the environment after Brexit, Michael Gove is to say today.
The Environment Secretary will announce plans to replace EU subsidies with a system that pays farmers to increase public access to land.
He will say that as part of a “green Brexit”, farmers will be rewarded for improving the environment by planting woodlands, turning fields into meadows and providing new habitats.
The Government will end the EU’S “perverse” Common Agricultural Policy that pays farmers for the land they own rather than what they do with it.
Mr Gove will say that in future, farmers will only receive “public money for public good”. They can also claim subsidies for investing in technology and the country’s infrastructure.
At present, farmers are unable to claim subsidies specifically for improving public access under the CAP. The Open Spaces Society charity has been campaigning for subsidies to encourage farmers to open up access.
In 2005, Labour introduced a “right to roam” on open land including mountains, moors, heaths and common land. However, the right does not apply to fields with crops, or private land.
Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, Mr Gove will say: “It’s critical … to recognise that there is no inherent tension between productive farming and care for the natural world. Enhancing our natural environment is a vital mission for this Government.
“We are committed to ensuring we leave the environment in a better condition than we found it. Leaving the European Union allows us to deliver the policies required to achieve that.”
Mr Gove will add that the current approach is “fundamentally flawed”, giving “the most from the public purse to those who have the most private wealth”. However, to avoid a “precipitate cliff-edge” for farmers after Brexit, the Government will guarantee that annual subsidies of £3 billion will continue until 2024. But there will be a cap on payments for wealthy landowners.
The move effectively gives farmers a five-year transition period after Brexit and the “time and tools to adapt to the future” and prepare for a new system.
Mr Gove will say that the CAP was designed for a post-war period when “memories of food shortages were hauntingly powerful”.
Critics have repeatedly pointed out that some of the biggest landowners get subsidies worth up to £3 million a year – 39 receive £1 million or more.
Mr Gove will say: “Paying land owners for the amount of agricultural land they have is unjust, inefficient and drives perverse outcomes … It bids up the price of land, distorting the market, creating a barrier to entry for innovative new farmers and entrenching lower productivity.
“Perversely, it rewards farmers for sticking to methods of production that are resource-inefficient and also incentivises an approach to environmental stewardship which is all about mathematically precise field margins and not ecologically healthy landscapes.”
Mr Gove will add: “We can have our own national food policy, our own agriculture policy, our own environment policies, our own economic policies, shaped by our own interests.”
Last month, the EU’S own financial watchdog found billions of pounds in green subsidies were being pocketed by farmers who did nothing for the environment. Highlighting the findings, Mr Gove says: “So-called greening payments in Pillar One have scarcely brought any environmental benefits at all. We can, and must, do better.”