Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - 10:14
The mid-tier Countryside Stewardship scheme offers capital items and management options to achieve simple but effective environmental benefits. Mid-tier grants can be accessed through 3 options:
1. Management Options & Capital Grants
These are very similar to previous years and allow farmers to choose from all available multi-year options and capital items to form an agreement which delivers local environmental benefits.
Capital grants are available for 2 main purposes: Management and maintain hedgerows and management water pollution and improve water quality.… Read More
Thursday, January 24, 2019 - 16:06
Making Tax Digital
The new making tax digital (MTD) requirements, which take effect from 1st April 2019, apply to all VAT registered businesses trading taxable supplies above the VAT threshold of £85,000. (taxable supplies are goods sold zero rated, reduced rated and standard rated. Exempt and outside the scope supplies do not count towards the threshold). Any businesses which has voluntarily registered for VAT and does not currently trade taxable supplies over £85,000 in a rolling 12-month period does not have to currently comply with MTD.
Three key requirements of MTD:
· … Read More
Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - 09:21
What is ELMS?
In September Michael Gove introduced the new Agriculture bill that is due to replace the current legislation which has held the UK under EU rules for nearly half a century. The new scheme (ELMS), which is due to replace the current Basic Payment Scheme, aims to incentivise farmers to achieve environmental enhancement and protection and restore and improve natural capital and rural heritage.
The Government has stated that the new scheme aims to keep bureaucracy to a minimum as well as eliminating principles from the current system that pay farmers for the amount of land they own rather than the outcomes they achieve.… Read More
Thursday, November 22, 2018 - 11:21
AKC are working on behalf of AHDB to deliver farm benchmarking for arable farms across the south of England.
Farmbench is an easy to use online benchmarking tool that helps to identify where strengths and weaknesses lie within a farm business. By comparing results anonymously to farms with similar enterprises, Farmbench enables you to improve individual business performance and manage many of the challenges facing the sector, such as price volatility, Brexit, and economic uncertainty. This will ensure that your… Read More
Tuesday, September 11, 2018 - 14:45
About the scheme
With the application deadline drawing near, the Countryside Productivity Scheme is offering its last chance for farmers who want to invest in innovative technology for their farm business, by offering grants between £35k to £1m under the Improving Farm Productivity Grant. Farmers from livestock, dairy, arable and horticultural sectors can apply for these grants which must aim to improve productivity through the following methods:
- The use of robotic equipment and systems that aid crop and livestock productions… Read More
Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 11:17
We recently attended the Bath Expo at The Assembly Rooms in Bath, one of the finest Georgian buildings in the town.
A great opportunity to meet other businesses and clients !!
Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - 10:58
The tax year 2018/19 sees the first rise in minimum contributions for Automatic Enrolment since it started.
There is also a rise in the minimum wage and the living wage. We have listed the changes below.
If you have any questions about any of the subjects in this newsletter please contact us either on the… Read More
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - 14:34
From 2 April 2018 new rules for all farmers in England will be introduced to help protect water quality, by standardising good farm practices that many are already performing and offering a new approach to regulation.
There are eight rules, five about managing fertilisers and manures and three on managing soils.
The Environment Agency will roll out the rules through an advice led approach, working with farmers to meet the requirements before enforcement action is taken.
About the new rules… Read More
Thursday, January 18, 2018 - 13:02
This is a standalone capital grant available under Countryside Stewardship
Applicant deadline: 30 April 2018
Applications can be submitted online, by post or by email. (Online applications must be accompanied by a map and supporting documents by post or email).
Agents submitting applications on a client’s behalf must have relevant permissions.
Maximum of one application per round.
Maximum grant… Read More
Friday, January 5, 2018 - 12:01
The Dairy Industry is currently under pressure from two key challenges- a lack of good quality farm labour and the confidence to invest in the future given recent milk price cycles. The challenge of getting people of my generation with the desire to work on Dairy farms is greater than ever as highlighted by a labour survey announced by Tim Brigstocke at the recent RABDF conference in London. The vast majority of participants to the survey had little interest due to the perceived working environment.
However, does this factor alone justify spend on a robotic milking system? I would argue no, as having conducted some recent analysis for a client… Read More
