Farm consultancy

Changes to Waste Exemption Licenses in Agriculture

January 2024

What we know so far:

At present, there is no need for waste exemption documents and record keeping to be maintained such as evidence of quantities etc, ONLY waste transfer notes. However, this may change. Exemptions are no longer allowed on permitted sites Limits are now imposed on the number of exemptions applicable to one site – this is to avoid operation of a permitted site without the required PP and regulation

Key changes for farmers to be aware of:

U1 – Use of waste in construction

Change in waste types and quantities Wood waste will be restricted to plant tissue only

*There will be a 1…

Don't forget: Somerset & Avon Dairy Group meeting - this Wednesday!

January 2024

Join us at Keynsham Rugby Club on Wednesday 17th January, to help build and discuss a new collaborative venture in addition to a bite to eat.

In this meeting you will learn what the group is, how collaboration will benefit you and make your farm business more resilient, but more importantly – what members of the group will receive, including:

Infrastructure reviews Environmental auditing Natural Capital Baselining And Cross Farm Collaboration

The services provided are initially supported and funded by the Future Farming Resilience Fund.

This is a chance for farmers across the county to meet like-minded individuals, collaborate and learn abo…

DEFRA January Update

January 2024

Yesterday, DEFRA announced their latest publication regarding the Agricultural Transition Plan – this provides an update on DEFRA progress to date and their priorities and plans for the upcoming years.

To support productivity, innovation and encourage more farmers to get involved with their schemes that work with food production and environmental targets, DEFRA are aiming to make their schemes and regulation more attractive, fair and workable.

To help achieve this, DEFRA’s plans for 2024 include:

1.An average 10% increase in payment rates for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) to r…

Improving Farm Productivity Grants: Round 2

December 2023

Did you miss out on the first round of the Improving Farm Productivity Grant?

DEFRA has recently announced that the second round will soon be available to apply for, in the coming weeks ahead.

The Improving Farm Productivity Grant is part of the Farming Investment Fund and is available to agricultural and arable businesses to support farmers in improving farm and horticulture productivity, providing grant funding towards specific capital items.

Funded improvements will relate to:

The use of robotic and automated equipment and systems to aid crop and livestock productionSolar equipment installation to increase energy resilience and the take-up of r… Read More

Have you heard?

November 2023

From 2024 the basic payment scheme will no longer be directly linked to holding eligible land and entitlements, instead payments will be based on an average of your historic payments during the reference years with the degressive percentages applied each year.

Every BPS recipient should receive a Delinked Payment statement by early December. Statements will be sent out in batches from early November.

These statements will show the ‘reference data’ which will be used to calculate your payments from 2024 – 2027.

The reference data being the BPS payments you received between: 2020-2022.

It is important you check…

Still unsure whether to apply for the SFI?

FREE WEBINAR: ' Making the SFI work for your farming business'

October 2023

'Making the SFI work for your farming business'

FREE WEBINAR:

Thursday 23rd November 2023 at 10am

Are you considering applying for a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) Agreement? Do you want to know how to make the SFI work for your farm business?

AKC are pleased to be working with Landmark Systems, to provide you a free webinar which will give you all the information you need to make and manage an SFI application.

The webinar will cover:

A technical update on the SFI 2023 offerWhat to consider before applying for the SFI… Read More

Slurry Infrastructure Grant - Round 2 Now Available

October 2023

DEFRA have announced they are going to launch the next round of the Slurry Infrastructure Grant in November. For full guidance on the new round click here.

A webinar about the scheme will also be hosted by DEFRA on the 9th November 2023, to allow you to ask questions and discover more about round 2 of the grant. To attend this, please register here.

About Round 2

To help improve the use of organic nutrients on your farm and aid productivity and reduce pollution, DEFRA are offering grants between £25,000 and £250,000 to help improve your slurry storage.

Since the first round, five new improvements have been made to the grant to encourage additio…

Calf Housing for Health and Welfare Grant – Open - 7th September 2023

September 2023

The Calf Housing for Health and Welfare grant is designed to increase the health and welfare of calves (up to 6 months old) through upgrading, building new or replacing existing calf housing buildings.

Grant funded housing must provide a good ambient environment, appropriate group housing, good air quality, temperature, and humidity within the building, allowing calves to grow effectively and minimise health issues within the group.

Successful projects are those that:

Improve calf health and welfare … Read More

Advance BPS Payments to be made in August

July 2023

After receiving feedback from last years advanced BPS payments, which were made from the end of July and across August, RPA have announced that they will continue to make advanced payments again this year to help farmers and landowners during times of increased pressure on cash flow.

This year, BPS advance payments will be paid on a single day which will be on the 1st August 2023. This amount will be up to 50% of your total BPS payment for 2023, with the remaining balance to be paid in December 2023.

Both payments will reflect the progressive reductions of BPS, as BPS continues to phase out until 2027.

If you would like to understand how these reductions wil…

Sustainable Farming Incentive - What we know so far

July 2023

The SFI will open in August 2023 for new applicants. The standards have been updated giving farmers a wider offer of options to apply to their farming business. There are now 8 different themes to the scheme giving a total of 23 actions to choose from.

Updates to the scheme since 2022

- An annual Management payment is available to cover participation costs.

- Some SFI Actions can be collocated with some Countryside Stewardship Options in the same parcels or areas of land.

- Shorter agreement lengths that do not require landlord consent to make the scheme more applicabl…

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