AIC welcomes Defra Transition Plan
On Monday 30th November, the Government announced the process of agricultural transition support for England.
The plan identifies the ways in which farmers and land managers will be support throughout the next 5 years. The includes direct support (BPS) transition, as well as new ELM payments and productivity measures.
“We welcome Defra’s Transition Plan, its framework, reach and its level of ambition”, comments AIC Chief Executive Robert Sheasby.
Announcing The Path to Sustainable Farming: An Agricultural Transition Plan 2021-2024, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, George Eustice emphasised that because these policy developments are aimed at tomorrow’s farmers as well as those of today there was no room for area-based payments.
“We recognise that fundamental changes are going to be made to the way English agricultural businesses are supported”, continues Mr Sheasby, “and we are ready to work with these proposals. In fact we are already involved in delivering one of the ELMs pilots and our members represent a significant pool of the advisors who will be invaluable in delivering the environmental goods, net zero and productivity gains this transition seeks to achieve”.
“However we must make sure that the policy is attributed across all the devolved nations”, concludes Mr Sheasby, “as our competitiveness will be crucial as we move to trading as a sovereign nation. We believe Defra must maintain accessibility to all farmers in as many aspects of the transition plan as possible, ensuring that outcomes on food production are central to the plan. And finally we would like to see clarity in the budget for the period post 2024 as farm businesses will be implementing plans well ahead of that date”
AIC members can find a more detailed member briefing here.
ENDS
About AIC
AIC is the UK trade association representing the agricultural supply chain sectors of Animal Feed, Arable Marketing, Crop Protection & Agronomy, Fertiliser and Seed, since its inception in 2003.
In all, AIC represents Members responsible for some £17.8 billion of farm trade. A significant part of its work is political lobbying and influencing, as well as supporting Members with technical information.
AIC Services, which is the professional services arm of AIC manages a range of services, including Assurance Schemes and professional registers recognised by the UK Government as essential tools to underpin feed & food safety alongside fertiliser security.
These schemes and professional registers include:
- Trade Assurance Scheme for Combinable Crops (TASCC)
- Feed Materials Assurance Scheme (FEMAS)
- Universal Feed Assurance Scheme (UFAS)
- European Seed Treatment Assurance (ESTA)
- Fertiliser Industry Assurance Scheme (FIAS)
- Feed Adviser Register (FAR)
- Renewable Energy Directive (RED)
- Forage Assurance Scheme (FAA)
- AIC Services Palm Oil Credit Scheme (APOCS)
Press Contact
Oli Hill, Communications Manager, AIC
+44 (0)1733 385230
[email protected]
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