The Rural Bulletin: 4 October 2018

Farm Business Grant application window extended

Farmers in Wales have been given an additional three weeks to apply for a Farm Business Grant funded by the Welsh Government’s Rural Development Programme.

The new deadline for the scheme is 26 October 2018. The grants are set to help farmers purchase equipment and machinery to improve their economic and environmental performance and make businesses more efficient and resilient. 

“Given the lack of certainty on future funding from the UK government, this may be the last window of the Farm Business Grant,” said Lesley Griffiths, Cabinet secretary for energy, planning and rural affairs. “I have therefore decided to extend the deadline to allow farmers more time to apply for this crucial investment.”

For more information visit: https://beta.gov.wales/farm-business-grant 

Broadband wayleave payments to increase by 5%

Negotiations by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and NFU have secured a 5% increase in wayleave payments offered by Openreach for fixed-line broadband cables and equipment. 

Negotiations have also secured a 4% increase in payments from other providers such as Gigiclear and Virgin Media. 

The motive behind 18-month long negotiations is to make it easier for providers to reach agreements with landowners over the location and payment rates for broadband equipment. 

Price changes came into effect on 1 October and will help bring better broadband to rural areas, according to NFU vice-president Stuart Roberts. “This initiative marks another step forward to ensuring our members have all they need to establish and maintain productive, profitable and progressive farming businesses.

Scottish farmers hit back at “convergence funding” review

Scottish farmers fear they could be left permanently disadvantaged by future agricultural budget allocations ahead of the proposed review of convergence funding.

The review was proposed last November after Scots argued that the full £190m awarded by the EU to make up for lower area payments in Scotland should have gone to the country – rather than just £30m that was allocated to them. 

Westminster has since issued the terms of reference for the review, however, this appears to look just at future allocations rather than how the funding was originally allocated. 

 “Having written again to Michael Gove in the late summer regarding convergence, it is disappointing and frustrating that we have still to get sight of any terms of reference that will be attached to the review,” said NFU Scotland president Andrew McCornick.

“This must be about agreeing the framework for agricultural spending post-Brexit and our ultimate departure from the CAP. Base-lining future funding allocations is an essential cornerstone on which Scotland will build its future agricultural policy.” 

Weak pound keeps BPS value firm

BPS subsidies are set to remain firm this year after the weak value of sterling resulted in favourable conversion rates. 

The average exchange rate across September was €1=£0.892, while the 2017 value was €1=£0.895. In 2017, this translated into a payment of £227.88/ha on a lowland (non-SDA) farm after greening and financial discipline (a mechanism to hold back cash for emergencies) had been applied.

This is the second year in a row that British farmers have benefited from weak sterling on the back of Brexit fears and poor high street sales.

Knight Frank Rural Asset Management