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<p>Farmers in the UK, Ireland and across northern Europe, have experienced a difficult
time this year with the hot, dry weather. The impacts are likely to be most severely
felt by grazing livestock due to the shortage of grass, but the full effect may not
be realised until later in the year. We have prioritised practical solutions to help
farmers increase access to fodder and bedding both now and in the coming months. These
actions will help farmers to limit the impact of extra feed costs by allocating land
to forage growth and grazing, but we will keep the situation under review.</p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Particular measures the Government has taken to help farmers
are:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>We have clarified that English farmers, unlike
farmers in other EU countries where derogations have been sought, have been able to
use fallow land for grazing since 1 July. That is because our legislation reflects
what we consider to be the minimum EU requirement.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>We
were the first Member State to raise a concern with the Commission to establish Ecological
Focus Area (EFA) catch crops by 20 August: Other Member States agreed with us and
the Commission agreed that “force majeure” would apply in these circumstances, so
we could waive penalties for farmers in this situation.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><ul><li>We are seeking a derogation from the requirement to sow only certain seed
types which are unpalatable to livestock in EFA areas as catch crop. The derogation
we expect to secure shortly will allow for grass and herbaceous forage to be grown
in those areas, and for those areas to be grazed.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>On
Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and forestry legacy agreements
farmers are able to ask Natural England to agree a temporary variation to the agreement
conditions, either as an Environmental Stewardship Derogation (to date, over 130 have
been granted) or a Countryside Stewardship Minor and Temporary Adjustment (over 30
have so far been granted). We will allow farmers to derogate temporarily from specific
prescriptions to provide bedding, fodder and grazing for livestock without materially
affecting the environmental benefits of their agreement.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p>I will monitor whether the fodder import scheme that has been introduced in
Ireland has an appreciable effect on supplies of fodder and bedding within the UK.
We have also made the point to the European Commission that whilst the UK is committed
to working to identify appropriate responses to this year’s weather impacts, these
should not interfere with the normal functioning of the market or obscure the focus
of farmers in mitigating weather impacts.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Opportunities
such as the ones described above were discussed with a wide range of stakeholders
at the National Farmers’ Union “Dry Weather Summit” on 1 August 2018 and we have received
some further representations in writing from farming industry organisations. Further
discussions took place at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) Industry Partnership Group
meeting in Reading on 20 August 2018. Additionally, a small number of individual farmers
have made representations through the RPA’s Helpline. All representations received
have been considered in the round and informed the approach we are taking to offering
all available support to alleviate the impacts of the recent extreme weather conditions
for farmers.</p><p> </p>
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