DEFRA CAP Updates

DEFRA has produced two ‘status reports’ on how CAP reform is progressing in England.  Although they don’t provide much in the way of new information, they do give some indication on the way the Department is thinking on some of the optional elements in the reform.  One report relates to Direct Payments, the other to Rural Development.  The former is more useful, as the policy on Direct Payments seems more advanced.

Among the items that can be gleaned from the document are;

• no desire from DEFRA to run a Small Farmers Scheme or have Coupled Payments
• a likely increase in the minimum claim to largest size allowed – 5hectares (12 acres).  According to the Department this would remove around 16,000 of the current SPS claimants, or 15% of the total current number
• no clear direction on whether entitlements will be rolled-over or a new grant made.  This seems slightly odd, as we thought it would be a ‘no brainer’ to avoid a new entitlement allocation.  Perhaps DEFRA is just being cautious, as there seems no good policy reason for a new grant
• a clear indication that the salary mitigation option under the capping/degressivity rules will not be used in England as it is too complex.  Despite the lack of clear agreement at the EU level, DEFRA are obviously working on the assumption of a minimum degressivity level of 5% above €150,000.  Perhaps surprisingly, DEFRA has not ruled out implementing capping above the minimum 5% level.  The option of using the Redistributive Payment also still seems to be on the table
• no desire to add further categories to ‘Active Farmer’ list of organisations ineligible for the BPS.  Very little is said about minimum activity levels on land claiming the BPS, pending further details from the EU Commission
• on greening, there is no clear steer on whether the simple three EU options will be chosen, or a more complex national ‘certification’ system

The reports are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cap-reform-in-england-status-report-on-direct-payments and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cap-reform-in-england-status-report-on-the-new-rural-development-programme.