Land managers in the East hear agricultural transition latest
Farmers and landowners gathered at events across the East to gain insights into the latest updates on agricultural policy.
The CLA Agricultural Transition Roadshow is visiting locations across England as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) continues to be phased out and new schemes that focus on public money for public goods are introduced.
Events in the East have taken place on the Essex/Hertfordshire border, Norfolk/Suffolk border and in Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire.
The first hour of the sessions saw Cameron Hughes, CLA Senior Land Use Policy Adviser, provide an update on latest policy developments under the new Labour government, including the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and other transition schemes. Representatives from Ceres Rural explained how they can offer free farm business advice to help navigate through this period of unprecedented change in the industry.
There were presentations from the Forestry Commission and Catchment Sensitive Farming, and there was also an update on the potential impact of proposed inheritance tax changes to agricultural and business property relief (APR and BPR) that were announced in the Budget.
Speaking following the events, the CLA’s Cameron Hughes, said:
“With so much noise around the proposed changes to agricultural and business inheritance tax reliefs and the real terms cut in the agricultural budget announced last month by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, it is important to keep abreast of all the developments and what they could mean for farming businesses.
“The agricultural transition in England continues to progress, with the new Sustainable Farming Incentive expanded offer being rolled out as cuts to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) continue. The accelerated reduction in the 2025 delinked BPS payments announced in the Budget will be far greater than many businesses will have expected or planned for in cash flow projections and will hit some rural businesses hard.”
Cameron added: “The CLA has concerns regarding Defra and the Rural Payments Agency’s ability to roll out the Environmental Land Management schemes sufficiently quickly to enable the recovered BPS funding to be spent. This is in the context where Defra has been battling an agricultural budget underspend issue for the past three financial years.
“The CLA continues to lobby the government on this and is also meeting regularly with ministers to get them to reassess their plans for inheritance tax. We continue to push government to properly consider the impact of proposed changes to APR and BPR and hope that we can work together to find a system that allows businesses to thrive whilst dealing with the issues government say it wants to resolve.
“At a time of great uncertainty, it is important for us to share as much information as possible about the ever-changing world the agricultural industry is operating in. Our sessions equipped members with the key policy updates and with information that will help their businesses navigate this challenging period in the agricultural transition.”