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1459848

	registered interest
	date	22/04/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of postponing the phase out of direct payments to farmers until 2024 in the context of the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on global food production.
	tabling member constituency	South Staffordshire
	tabling member printed	Sir Gavin Williamson
	uin	157559
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>We are not going to change the profile of Direct Payments reductions.</p><p>Area based subsidy gave half the farming budget to 10% of landowners. The Basic Payment Scheme did not support food production and did nothing to stop the decline in nature. We must seize the opportunity to establish a different system of rewards and incentives in agriculture. I am pleased that we are supporting farmers with the choices that they make for their own holdings.</p><p>Defra has been engaging with industry via various forums to understand significant impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on individual industries and supply chains in Defra's sectors. No impacts have been reported that will severely disrupt entire markets.</p><p>Last month we announced steps to assist farmers with the availability of fertilisers for the coming growing season, to help address uncertainty amongst growers and help keep costs down for farmers.</p><p>The planned changes to the use of urea fertiliser will be delayed by at least a year, helping farmers manage costs and giving them more time to adapt to pressures on the supply of ammonium nitrate fertilisers. We are also encouraging farmers to make use of organic fertilisers. Farmers will be further supported by new slurry storage grants introduced this year.</p><p>Alongside this, we have published further details of the early rollout of Sustainable Farming Incentive. The scheme will help farmers move towards more sustainable farming practices over time; supporting farmers to build the health and fertility of their soil, and to reduce soil erosion which are essential for food production, helping to bolster food security and the longer-term resilience of the sector.</p><p>Defra will continue to keep the situation under review going forward.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 28/04/2022 07:43:25 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4108 label Biography information for Sir Gavin Williamson

1460143

	registered interest
	date	25/04/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to review the impact of reductions in Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments to farmers in the period 2021-27 on the viability of English farms in the context of rising fertiliser and other input costs.
	tabling member constituency	Shrewsbury and Atcham
	tabling member printed	Daniel Kawczynski
	uin	158898
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2022 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 28/04/2022 10:57:01 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1566 label Biography information for Daniel Kawczynski

1464056

	registered interest
	date	18/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing support payments and grants to farmers in England in the context of rates of agricultural inflation.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	4535
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>In light of recently rising input costs and price volatility around certain agricultural commodities such as nitrogen fertiliser, the Government is planning to change the way we make payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in 2022. Eligible farmers will now receive their payment in two instalments - half from the end of July and the rest from December 2022. This will be a permanent change to Direct Payments that will remain for the rest of the agricultural transition. By doing this, the Government intends to inject cash into farm businesses, helping them to make business decisions sooner, with more confidence.</p><p> </p><p>This builds on the increase in revenue payment rates for the Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme to reflect the change in costs since 2013, which Defra announced in January 2022. The majority of payment rates increased, on average by around 30%, although rate changes vary from option to option. These changes affected around 30,000 agreements.</p><p> </p><p>In March 2022, Defra began rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) to recipients of the BPS. SFI will help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures in crops to substitute some fertiliser requirements for the coming season, as well as reducing the dependence on manufactured fertilisers which are impacted by the price of gas. Rising fertiliser prices highlight that we need to find alternatives and move towards more organic-based fertiliser products. SFI is designed to help farmers move to these new sustainable farming methods gradually - which will improve environmental conditions of the land, while building the long-term resilience of our food security and production.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State recently announced a range of measures in support of the current situation, such as delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser to help farmers manage their costs and improving statutory guidance for use of slurry. Defra has also created the Fertiliser Taskforce - where Government and industry are working together to help improve market confidence and provide farmers with the information they need to make business decisions on fertiliser use.</p><p> </p><p>Towards the end of this year, farmers will be able to apply for slurry storage grants, helping them to meet the Farming Rules for Water and reducing their dependence on artificial fertilisers. This grant will contribute towards the costs of covered slurry store construction projects, helping farmers to get six months storage capacity.</p><p> </p><p>Defra is supporting investment in technology and research to further improve productivity. The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund has offered grants of up to £48m to over 4,000 applicants - enabling farmers to invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure. We have also announced a new Adding Value theme - a £30 million fund helping farmers and growers to process, diversify and add-value to their products. Furthermore, we have announced new Research Starter Projects - open to individual farming, growing or forestry businesses in England to develop feasibility studies to accelerate research and development.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor the wider context of global supplies that can impact farm income and productivity, as well as take-up of our agri-environment and other schemes. Defra will use the findings to inform our plans throughout the agricultural transition.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 01/06/2022 08:35:40 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1464951

	registered interest
	date	23/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of uplifting support payments and grants to farmers in England in the context of the rates of agricultural inflation.
	tabling member constituency	Henley
	tabling member printed	John Howell
	uin	6738
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>We are not at this time planning on applying inflation indices but we will review payment rates for our offers so that they remain credible and attractive to farmers.</p><p> </p><p>In light of recently rising input costs and price volatility around certain agricultural commodities such as nitrogen fertiliser, the Government is planning to change the way we make payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in 2022. Eligible farmers will now receive their payment in two instalments - half from the end of July and the rest from December 2022. This will be a permanent change to Direct Payments that will remain for the rest of the agricultural transition. By doing this, the Government intends to inject cash into farm businesses, helping them to make business decisions sooner, with more confidence.</p><p> </p><p>This builds on the increase in revenue payment rates for the Countryside Stewardship scheme to reflect the change in costs since 2013, which Defra announced in January 2022. The majority of payment rates increased, on average by around 30%, although rate changes vary from option to option. These changes affected around 30,000 agreements and show we are willing and able to respond as and when there is a clear case.</p><p> </p><p>In March 2022, Defra began rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) to recipients of the BPS. SFI will help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures in crops to substitute some fertiliser requirements for the coming season, as well as reducing the dependence on manufactured fertilisers which are impacted by the price of gas. Rising fertiliser prices highlight that we need to find alternatives and move towards more organic-based fertiliser products. SFI is designed to help farmers move to these new sustainable farming methods gradually - which will improve environmental conditions of the land, while building the long-term resilience of our food security and production.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State recently announced a range of measures in support of the current situation, such as delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser to help farmers manage their costs and improving statutory guidance for use of slurry. Defra has also created the Fertiliser Taskforce - where Government and industry are working together to help improve market confidence and provide farmers with the information they need to make business decisions on fertiliser use.</p><p> </p><p>Towards the end of this year, farmers will be able to apply for slurry storage grants, helping them to meet the Farming Rules for Water and reducing their dependence on artificial fertilisers. This grant will contribute towards the costs of covered slurry store construction projects, helping farmers to get six months storage capacity. We will set the rates based on our assessment of the market at the time, as is our usual practice.</p><p> </p><p>Defra is supporting investment in technology and research to further improve productivity. The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund has offered grants of up to £48m to over 4,000 applicants - enabling farmers to invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure. We have also announced a new Adding Value theme - a £30 million fund helping farmers and growers to process, diversify and add-value to their products again using up to date market information.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor the wider context of global supplies that can impact farm income and productivity, as well as take-up of our agri-environment and other schemes. Defra will use the findings to inform our plans throughout the agricultural transition.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 6739 question first answered 01/06/2022 08:31:29 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1606 label Biography information for John Howell

1464952

	registered interest
	date	23/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of applying inflation indexes to support payments and grants available to farmers in England.
	tabling member constituency	Henley
	tabling member printed	John Howell
	uin	6739
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/06/2022 answer text <p>We are not at this time planning on applying inflation indices but we will review payment rates for our offers so that they remain credible and attractive to farmers.</p><p> </p><p>In light of recently rising input costs and price volatility around certain agricultural commodities such as nitrogen fertiliser, the Government is planning to change the way we make payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in 2022. Eligible farmers will now receive their payment in two instalments - half from the end of July and the rest from December 2022. This will be a permanent change to Direct Payments that will remain for the rest of the agricultural transition. By doing this, the Government intends to inject cash into farm businesses, helping them to make business decisions sooner, with more confidence.</p><p> </p><p>This builds on the increase in revenue payment rates for the Countryside Stewardship scheme to reflect the change in costs since 2013, which Defra announced in January 2022. The majority of payment rates increased, on average by around 30%, although rate changes vary from option to option. These changes affected around 30,000 agreements and show we are willing and able to respond as and when there is a clear case.</p><p> </p><p>In March 2022, Defra began rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) to recipients of the BPS. SFI will help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures in crops to substitute some fertiliser requirements for the coming season, as well as reducing the dependence on manufactured fertilisers which are impacted by the price of gas. Rising fertiliser prices highlight that we need to find alternatives and move towards more organic-based fertiliser products. SFI is designed to help farmers move to these new sustainable farming methods gradually - which will improve environmental conditions of the land, while building the long-term resilience of our food security and production.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State recently announced a range of measures in support of the current situation, such as delaying changes to the use of urea fertiliser to help farmers manage their costs and improving statutory guidance for use of slurry. Defra has also created the Fertiliser Taskforce - where Government and industry are working together to help improve market confidence and provide farmers with the information they need to make business decisions on fertiliser use.</p><p> </p><p>Towards the end of this year, farmers will be able to apply for slurry storage grants, helping them to meet the Farming Rules for Water and reducing their dependence on artificial fertilisers. This grant will contribute towards the costs of covered slurry store construction projects, helping farmers to get six months storage capacity. We will set the rates based on our assessment of the market at the time, as is our usual practice.</p><p> </p><p>Defra is supporting investment in technology and research to further improve productivity. The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund has offered grants of up to £48m to over 4,000 applicants - enabling farmers to invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure. We have also announced a new Adding Value theme - a £30 million fund helping farmers and growers to process, diversify and add-value to their products again using up to date market information.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor the wider context of global supplies that can impact farm income and productivity, as well as take-up of our agri-environment and other schemes. Defra will use the findings to inform our plans throughout the agricultural transition.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis grouped question UIN 6738 question first answered 01/06/2022 08:31:29 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1606 label Biography information for John Howell

1466384

	registered interest
	date	26/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, where the funds removed from the basic payment scheme in (a) 2021 and (b) 2022 were reallocated.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	9903
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/06/2022 answer text <p>Defra reports expenditure under agricultural support schemes by financial year rather than calendar year.</p><p> </p><p>The Department, as required by section 5 of chapter 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020, will prepare an annual report about the financial assistance given during each financial year, starting with financial year 2021-22. The first report will be laid before Parliament and published before 1 October 2022. It will contain details of where funds freed up from BPS have been spent.</p><p> </p><p>We will have the same requirement in 2022-23, where the reduction in basic payments will enable the launch of the Sustainable Farming Incentive in June 2022, an increase of Countryside Stewardship payment rates and a rise in demand for the scheme from farmers, and the continued rollout of other schemes to improve prosperity and reward environmental delivery including forthcoming grants for slurry stores.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 06/06/2022 15:44:57 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1466385

	registered interest
	date	26/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide details of his Department's expenditure on all agricultural support schemes in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	9904
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2022 answer text <p>We have committed to maintain the farming budget for England at £2.4 billion for every year of this parliament. We are repurposing that budget to better support our farmers, but the amount spent will be the same.</p><p>Spend for the financial year 2020-21 is summarised in the table below against the buckets of spend outlined in the Agricultural Transition Plan, published in November 2020.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Scheme costs £m</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>20/21</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Direct Payments</p></td><td><p>1,873</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Environmental and animal welfare outcomes</p></td><td><p>457</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Improving farm prosperity</p></td><td><p>120</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total scheme costs</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2,450</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The Department, as required by section 5 of chapter 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020, will prepare an annual report about the financial assistance given during each financial year, starting with financial year 2021-22. The first report will be laid before Parliament and published before 1 October 2022.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 13/06/2022 17:08:52 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1466445

	registered interest
	date	26/05/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses expected to receive over (a) £100,000 (b) £200,000 (c) £250,000 and (d) £500,000 in Basic Payments in (i) 2022, (ii) 2023, (iii) 2024, (iv) 2025, (v) 2026 and (vi) 2027.
	tabling member constituency	Cambridge
	tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
	uin	9907
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2022 answer text <p>We have estimated the number of farm business in England which could receive Direct Payments above the specified amounts as follows:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><p><strong>Payment amount</strong></p></td><td colspan="3"><p><strong>Number of farm businesses by scheme year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2022</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2024</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than £100,000</p></td><td><p>1,136</p></td><td><p>701</p></td><td><p>375</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than £200,000</p></td><td><p>107</p></td><td><p>63</p></td><td><p>29</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than £250,000</p></td><td><p>99</p></td><td><p>52</p></td><td><p>32</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than £500,000</p></td><td><p>23</p></td><td><p>18</p></td><td><p>7</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>These estimates take account of the progressive reductions that we intend to apply to the payments, as announced in our Agricultural Transition Plan in 2020.</p><p> </p><p>We have not provided estimates for years 2025 to 2027 as the Government has not yet announced the progressive reductions which will be applied to Direct Payments in those years as we continue to phase the payments out.</p><p> </p><p>Money saved by Direct Payment reductions will be directly re-invested into English agriculture through our new schemes. These include our new environmental land management schemes as well as grants to enable farmers to invest in equipment, technology, and infrastructure. These will improve efficiency and productivity while also benefiting the climate and environment.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 13/06/2022 16:17:01 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1467422

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to increase the level of support to British farmers to grow food crops in the context of the global food security situation.
	tabling member constituency	Windsor
	tabling member printed	Adam Afriyie
	uin	11633
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2022 answer text <p>This Government will maintain the total investment in the farming sector throughout this parliament. In England, the budget of £2.4 billion per year is being re-purposed in a way that will support farmer’s resilience and food security for years to come.</p><p> </p><p>By gradually phasing out the untargeted Basic Payments of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, and replacing them with a flexible range of targeted grants and ongoing payments for farmers, we are increasing the level of support available for delivering on the priorities of farm productivity, environment, climate and animal health and welfare. All the money coming out of Basic Payment Scheme will go back into the sector each year, there will be no gap in investment.</p><p> </p><p>We are not fixing allocations of ring-fenced money for schemes, as happened under the EU, but will learn and respond to demand and developments from the sector – keeping the spread of investment under review over time.</p><p> </p><p>We have already seen uptake and enthusiasm from farmers in certain areas and have been able to adapt flexibly to this demand. For example, the budget for the new Farming Equipment and Technology fund was increased to account for high demand. As a result, more than 4,000 farmers can invest in new equipment and technology, supporting and improving domestic food production.</p><p> </p><p>Defra has recently released further information on the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) - designed to help farmers move to new alternative sustainable farming methods gradually, improving environmental conditions of the land, whilst building the long-term resilience of our food security and production.</p><p> </p><p>The SFI is one of three new schemes under Environmental Land Management which will maintain productive land, delivering for both farmers and the environment.</p><p> </p><p>Our schemes will ensure our long-term food security by investing in the foundations of food production: healthy soil; water; and biodiverse ecosystems.</p><p> </p><p>The Government continues to monitor the wider context of global supplies that we know can impact farm income and productivity, as well as food security. The Secretary of State recently announced several other measures to support our farmers in the current uncertainty, notably regarding the use of urea fertiliser - helping farmers manage their costs better, as well as improving the statutory guidance for the use of slurry.</p><p> </p><p>I recently launched and chaired the first session of a new industry fertiliser roundtable, aiming to work through issues regarding slurry to develop our understanding of current pressures on farmers and identify solutions. The Fertiliser Taskforce is just one example of where the Government is working with closely with industry to improve market confidence - providing farmers with the information needed to make business decisions, in these challenging times.</p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 20/06/2022 08:22:54 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1586 label Biography information for Adam Afriyie

1469893

	registered interest
	date	13/06/2022
	answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept id	13
	answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	hansard heading	Agriculture: Subsidies
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has removed the requirement to be an active farmer to claim funding from the Basic Payment Scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
	tabling member printed	Tim Farron
	uin	16905
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2022 answer text <p>You must be a farmer to claim under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and must have land ‘at your disposal’. This means, for example, that where land is let under a Farm Business Tenancy, it is the tenant and not the landlord who can use that land to claim BPS.</p><p> </p><p>Previously the BPS rules included an active farmer test. We removed this in 2018 because it was ineffective and created unnecessary confusion for farmers.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Banbury answering member printed Victoria Prentis question first answered 21/06/2022 15:05:33 answering member 4401 label Biography information for Victoria Prentis
	tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron