The Government has taken the first step towards reforming farm subsidies in preparation for Brexit, transferring an environmental protection pilot programme from EU to UK management.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove has already signalled that the UK will move away from traditional subsidies based on farm size, which essentially reward ownership, towards a system which encourages stewardship of land for the “public good”.
The trial scheme is taking place in Norfolk, Suffolk and Yorkshire. In the south, farmers are being given grants to plant wild flower plots for bees and other pollinators, says the Eastern Daily Press, while in Wensleydale they are being rewarded for managing meadows.
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Known as Payment By Results, the trial is funded under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy – and had been due to come to an end in December this year. Now Gove has announced £540,000 of UK funding to extend it for two years.
“The Payment by Results pilot marks a shift in how we think about rewarding farmers for their work,” Gove said. “This approach signals how we see the future of farm payments, where farmers deliver public goods for the environment which we all enjoy.”
He added: “Under the CAP, agri-environment schemes have been overly bureaucratic and inflexible. This has impeded innovation for farmers who are passionate about the environment and want to see real change.”
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