The farmer protests in Brussels remind us that the problems facing our dairy industry are EU-wide. Indeed they are worldwide as supply is outpacing demand.
This is bad news for everyone other than the consumer but ironically, at least in this country, I suspect many shoppers would be happy to pay more for their milk if this helps our dairy farmers survive.
However, with supermarkets facing fierce competition they are desperately trying to attract more customers into their shops and a price war on milk has been one of their battle grounds.
Some movement has been seen in recent weeks with various supermarkets agreeing to pay more for liquid milk and milk being made into their own brands of cheese. But this still leaves many of our dairy farmers producing milk at less than the cost of production which cannot last for long before farmers are forced to quit the industry.
It is the impact these prices have on an individual farmer’s cash flow which is crippling those who do not have sufficient financial resources to survive a downturn such as this.
That is why the EU has agreed to make 500m euros available for dairy farmers across Europe to help relieve this cash flow crisis. It is likely this will translate in to around £29m in the UK but my fear is that we will now enter a prolonged argument as to how this money should be allocated with the result that by the time it is eventually paid, it may be too late for some businesses.
When such payments have been made in the past they have usually come on a flat rate basis to every farmer which makes it easier to get the money out quickly. However, because there is such a broad range of milk prices being paid to dairy farmers I believe this money should be focussed on those receiving the lower milk prices.
Such decisions, and the mechanism for payment need to be agreed quickly and I urge government ministers in DEFRA to focus their efforts on getting this money out as soon as possible.
They must also continue to fight EU bureaucrats to relax the rules and allow the new Basic Payment Scheme funds to be released as early as possible in England where it is currently feared technical checks may hold up payments when farmers are struggling across all sectors, not just the dairy industry.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
A property blog written and authored by our specialist blogging team, discussing all and any matter relating to the residential, rural and commercial property markets.
Showing posts with label farmer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farmer. Show all posts
Monday, 28 September 2015
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
"Green Measures" will be introduced
Last week saw DEFRA announce the long awaited rules on Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) which are part of the so called “Greening Measures” which will be introduced as part of the new Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) which replaces the existing Single Payment Scheme.
The Greening Measures will be worth 30% of a farmer’s support payment and in addition to the EFAs farmers will be required to observe rules on crop diversification and the retention of permanent pasture(at a national level) but it is the EFA rules which are causing most concern. This is because within a month or so farmers will be staring this year’s harvest and will be hoping to replant next year’s crops almost immediately but without knowing the EFA rules, this will be difficult.
In simple terms the new rules will require arable farmers with over 15 hectares of crops to “set aside” 5% of their land in to EFAs. The big question has been what these EFAs will involve and last week it became clear there will be five options. These will include land lying fallow, buffer strips, ‘catch and cover crops’ used to manage soil fertility and quality and Nitrogen Fixing Crops such as legumes and hedgerows.
The first option to leave land fallow is obviously costly for farmers in terms of loss of income and the government are also concerned about the loss of production at a time when we have falling rates of self sufficiency of home grown food. However, this is a straightforward and relatively easily monitored prescription.
The ease of administering the new system and proving to Europe that we have systems in place to monitor claims and payments is a real concern to the Rural Payments Agency, being the body charged with delivering the BPS. They remember the disaster that engulfed them when the Single Payment Scheme was introduced in 2005 and they do not want to see anything like that happen again.
Therefore, the inclusion of hedgerows as an EFA will no doubt be of concern to the RPA because in order to monitor this they will effectively have to digitally map every hedgerow which will be an enormous task between now and 1st January 2015 which is the start of the new BPS.
As a result DEFRA have warned in there press release that, “ To ensure that the RPA can process all claims accurately, farmers taking the hedgerow option may be requested to submit claims earlier and may need to expect payments later. This is because hedgerows will need to be digitally recorded and verified by the RPA to meet EU requirements and avoid the risk of penalties for farmers or the taxpayer”.
So, although matters have been clarified I think it will take a little while before the implications of the new EFA options are fully understood although the clock is ticking and farmers will need to make a decision on which prescriptions they intend to employ to within the next few months if they are not to jeopardise 30% of their agricultural support payments next year.
The Greening Measures will be worth 30% of a farmer’s support payment and in addition to the EFAs farmers will be required to observe rules on crop diversification and the retention of permanent pasture(at a national level) but it is the EFA rules which are causing most concern. This is because within a month or so farmers will be staring this year’s harvest and will be hoping to replant next year’s crops almost immediately but without knowing the EFA rules, this will be difficult.
In simple terms the new rules will require arable farmers with over 15 hectares of crops to “set aside” 5% of their land in to EFAs. The big question has been what these EFAs will involve and last week it became clear there will be five options. These will include land lying fallow, buffer strips, ‘catch and cover crops’ used to manage soil fertility and quality and Nitrogen Fixing Crops such as legumes and hedgerows.
The first option to leave land fallow is obviously costly for farmers in terms of loss of income and the government are also concerned about the loss of production at a time when we have falling rates of self sufficiency of home grown food. However, this is a straightforward and relatively easily monitored prescription.
The ease of administering the new system and proving to Europe that we have systems in place to monitor claims and payments is a real concern to the Rural Payments Agency, being the body charged with delivering the BPS. They remember the disaster that engulfed them when the Single Payment Scheme was introduced in 2005 and they do not want to see anything like that happen again.
Therefore, the inclusion of hedgerows as an EFA will no doubt be of concern to the RPA because in order to monitor this they will effectively have to digitally map every hedgerow which will be an enormous task between now and 1st January 2015 which is the start of the new BPS.
As a result DEFRA have warned in there press release that, “ To ensure that the RPA can process all claims accurately, farmers taking the hedgerow option may be requested to submit claims earlier and may need to expect payments later. This is because hedgerows will need to be digitally recorded and verified by the RPA to meet EU requirements and avoid the risk of penalties for farmers or the taxpayer”.
So, although matters have been clarified I think it will take a little while before the implications of the new EFA options are fully understood although the clock is ticking and farmers will need to make a decision on which prescriptions they intend to employ to within the next few months if they are not to jeopardise 30% of their agricultural support payments next year.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
Monday, 13 January 2014
Memories of 2012 have come 'flooding' back
The memories of 2012 have unfortunately come flooding back (excuse the pun) to many in recent weeks and the Somerset Levels in particular seem to have taken the brunt in this area. The main road to Taunton is once again cut off and we see pictures of villagers being supplied with essential goods by boat.
No doubt the issue of dredging the main water courses more effectively will become a hot topic of conversation but it has to be remembered that winter flooding was a regular feature of farming on the levels in the past. The problem this time is that it has followed the devastating floods of 2012 which has left some farmers still recovering from the effects of those floods which started in April and continued on and off throughout the summer and beyond.
Such summer flooding is far more damaging than winter flooding because it occurs during the growing season, killing grass and other crops, preventing grazing and damaging soil structure when machinery or livestock cross waterlogged soils. This leads to short and long term impacts on the farmers affected. They not only lose summer grazing and fodder stocks which need to be replaced in order to maintain livestock numbers in the short term they also face the cost of re-establishing grass swards and sorting out the damage to the soil structure in the long term.
It is these latter issues which are most likely to cause some farmers particular problems now, in that the grass leys which were reseeded last year are still relatively immature and may not survive the winter flooding which older permanent pastures would probably survive relatively unscathed. The type of grass seed used will also be important in that some of the modern short term leys will struggle to survive periods of flooding whereas many of the old permanent pasture seed mixes are far more resistant to such conditions. However, such seed mixes are less productive and so farmers have to balance the risk flooding against the productivity of the grass.
So, although these floods will have been devastating for some I would suggest, provided they do not last too long, they will have done significantly less damage to farmland than was the case in 2012. But whether or not a farm has been flooded, the very wet conditions make looking after livestock in particular difficult. Out wintered stock need to be moved more regularly to prevent the land becoming poached, mud is everywhere hindering virtually everything you need to do, manure and slurry become difficult to handle in wet yards and rainwater fills the slurry lagoons threatening an overspill and yet it is difficult to spread the slurry on waterlogged land without causing soil damage and risking a pollution incident.
Thus, all in all wet weather just makes farming difficult and unpleasant work although most will be glad the rain did not come as snow – let’s just hope that is not what February has in store for us.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
Saturday, 7 January 2012
The Winter Roosts of Starlings
The winter roosts of starlings on the Somerset Levels have in recent years become a national phenomenon, even featuring on television advertisements. But, as so often happens, this spectacle has become a double edged sword because of the nuisance the birds can cause when they congregate to feed during the day at nearby farms.
It may come as a surprise to many that despite the huge numbers of birds we see during the winter, there is concern about the Starling population in this country. Indeed it has been placed, along with 51 other species on the “red list” by the UK’s leading bird conservation organisations.
The reason for this categorisation is largely because of the decline in the UK breeding population of which I have personal experience. For instance I can remember as a child being woken up by starlings scrabbling beneath the tiles on the roof above my bedroom where they were nesting and yet I cannot remember the last time I saw a starling nesting in such a manner in this area.
So there seems no doubt that the breeding population in this country has certainly declined, but the birds we see here in the winter are largely migrants from northern continental Europe and it is this disconnect between the huge numbers we see and the declining UK population which confuses many people.
Interesting as this may be, it does not get to grips with the problem we are now witnessing in this area where huge flocks of starlings are descending daily on some farms, giving rise to concerns regarding livestock feed contamination and possibly even contamination of human food products such as milk. Indeed one local farmer has claimed he has lost a significant number of livestock, and money as a direct result of the starlings. This gave rise to David Heath, MP for Somerton and Frome asking questions on the subject in Parliament.
The problem is that the Starlings are attracted to the UK because of our relatively mild winters and the reed beds on the Somerset levels provide ideal roosting sites from where the birds disperse in to the surrounding countryside in huge numbers to feed by day. As the number of farms has reduced in recent years, those that remain have often become bigger and now they provide ideal feeding grounds for huge flocks of starlings.
Dairy farms in particular are vulnerable to “attack” because they often feed their cattle with a “total mixed ration” where silage is mixed with other feedstuffs to provide the cows with a balanced “meal” providing all the necessary nutrients in the correct proportions. However, the starlings also seem to thrive on such rations and where the feed is based on maize silage in particular the starlings accumulate in huge numbers feeding in close proximity to the cows and leaving their faeces everywhere, including in the feed.
Anyone who has been under a large flock of starlings when it flies over will realise they do produce a fair amount of droppings and these may not only contaminate feed but also drinking water which many farmers are now harvesting off their roofs.
So, it is interesting to learn that DairyCo, which is a not-for-profit organisation working on behalf of, and funded by Britain's dairy farmers, has awarded a grant to local independent dairy specialists, Kingshay to investigate ways of evaluating and reducing the impact of starlings on dairy herds.
Kingshay, based at West Bradley state that “most say that maize silage is the magnet that attracts birds but some farmers have succeeded in reducing starling invasions on their farms and we need to investigate the combination of factors behind their success.”
So we await the outcome of their report with interest and in this context Kingshay would be pleased to hear from any farmers who have successfully reduced the starling problem on their farm without adversely affecting the bird population. Kingshay can be contacted on 01458 851555.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
It may come as a surprise to many that despite the huge numbers of birds we see during the winter, there is concern about the Starling population in this country. Indeed it has been placed, along with 51 other species on the “red list” by the UK’s leading bird conservation organisations.
The reason for this categorisation is largely because of the decline in the UK breeding population of which I have personal experience. For instance I can remember as a child being woken up by starlings scrabbling beneath the tiles on the roof above my bedroom where they were nesting and yet I cannot remember the last time I saw a starling nesting in such a manner in this area.
So there seems no doubt that the breeding population in this country has certainly declined, but the birds we see here in the winter are largely migrants from northern continental Europe and it is this disconnect between the huge numbers we see and the declining UK population which confuses many people.
Interesting as this may be, it does not get to grips with the problem we are now witnessing in this area where huge flocks of starlings are descending daily on some farms, giving rise to concerns regarding livestock feed contamination and possibly even contamination of human food products such as milk. Indeed one local farmer has claimed he has lost a significant number of livestock, and money as a direct result of the starlings. This gave rise to David Heath, MP for Somerton and Frome asking questions on the subject in Parliament.
The problem is that the Starlings are attracted to the UK because of our relatively mild winters and the reed beds on the Somerset levels provide ideal roosting sites from where the birds disperse in to the surrounding countryside in huge numbers to feed by day. As the number of farms has reduced in recent years, those that remain have often become bigger and now they provide ideal feeding grounds for huge flocks of starlings.
Dairy farms in particular are vulnerable to “attack” because they often feed their cattle with a “total mixed ration” where silage is mixed with other feedstuffs to provide the cows with a balanced “meal” providing all the necessary nutrients in the correct proportions. However, the starlings also seem to thrive on such rations and where the feed is based on maize silage in particular the starlings accumulate in huge numbers feeding in close proximity to the cows and leaving their faeces everywhere, including in the feed.
Anyone who has been under a large flock of starlings when it flies over will realise they do produce a fair amount of droppings and these may not only contaminate feed but also drinking water which many farmers are now harvesting off their roofs.
So, it is interesting to learn that DairyCo, which is a not-for-profit organisation working on behalf of, and funded by Britain's dairy farmers, has awarded a grant to local independent dairy specialists, Kingshay to investigate ways of evaluating and reducing the impact of starlings on dairy herds.
Kingshay, based at West Bradley state that “most say that maize silage is the magnet that attracts birds but some farmers have succeeded in reducing starling invasions on their farms and we need to investigate the combination of factors behind their success.”
So we await the outcome of their report with interest and in this context Kingshay would be pleased to hear from any farmers who have successfully reduced the starling problem on their farm without adversely affecting the bird population. Kingshay can be contacted on 01458 851555.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
New “Small Capital Grants Scheme” for Farmers in England poised to be launched
Following the coalition government’s decision to abolish Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) the England Rural Development Programme (ERDP) has been in turmoil.
The ERDP forms part of the Common Agricultural Policy and elements of the programme had been developed and administered at a regional level by the RDAs. Thus their abolition has left a vacuum and threatened the delivery of European funds for the remainder of the programme which runs to the end of 2013.
However the government has recognised this problem and has taken the scheme back in hand to be administered by DEFRA. What this means is that they have done away with the regional delivery programmes and developed and national programme so there is now conformity across the country.
To my mind this makes a great deal of sense because under the old scheme, whether or not a farmer or rural business qualified for grant aid depended on the programme which was developed by the various RDAs. This lead to unfairness on occasions where for instance a business in Hampshire may have qualified for grant aid whereas across the regional and county border in Wiltshire, a very similar business may not have.
As you can imagine, the process of harmonising the various regional schemes has taken time and some difficult decisions have had to be made on what schemes to drop, although the national programme is now just getting up and running. The first of the new schemes which is about to be launched is called the “small capital grant scheme”.
This is an exciting opportunity for farmers although funds are likely to be limited and so farmers and foresters should be ready to make an application the moment the grant scheme opens which it is believed will be sometime in mid-November.
The scheme will initially be open for about eight weeks before it closes to allow the applications to be assessed and then the scheme will open again for another eight weeks and so on until the funds are exhausted.
The grant aid will vary from £2,500 to £25,000 although until the rules are published it is difficult to be precise as to exactly what investment proposals will qualify but in broad terms it is understood the money will be targeted at increasing the competitiveness of the agricultural and forestry sectors.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
The ERDP forms part of the Common Agricultural Policy and elements of the programme had been developed and administered at a regional level by the RDAs. Thus their abolition has left a vacuum and threatened the delivery of European funds for the remainder of the programme which runs to the end of 2013.
However the government has recognised this problem and has taken the scheme back in hand to be administered by DEFRA. What this means is that they have done away with the regional delivery programmes and developed and national programme so there is now conformity across the country.
To my mind this makes a great deal of sense because under the old scheme, whether or not a farmer or rural business qualified for grant aid depended on the programme which was developed by the various RDAs. This lead to unfairness on occasions where for instance a business in Hampshire may have qualified for grant aid whereas across the regional and county border in Wiltshire, a very similar business may not have.
As you can imagine, the process of harmonising the various regional schemes has taken time and some difficult decisions have had to be made on what schemes to drop, although the national programme is now just getting up and running. The first of the new schemes which is about to be launched is called the “small capital grant scheme”.
This is an exciting opportunity for farmers although funds are likely to be limited and so farmers and foresters should be ready to make an application the moment the grant scheme opens which it is believed will be sometime in mid-November.
The scheme will initially be open for about eight weeks before it closes to allow the applications to be assessed and then the scheme will open again for another eight weeks and so on until the funds are exhausted.
The grant aid will vary from £2,500 to £25,000 although until the rules are published it is difficult to be precise as to exactly what investment proposals will qualify but in broad terms it is understood the money will be targeted at increasing the competitiveness of the agricultural and forestry sectors.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
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