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Countryside Stewardship, Farm Wildlife Packages and Key Dates

Snapshot & Key Dates of 2019 Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship

May 2019

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.…

Making Tax Digital - Explained

January 2019

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:

· Digital…

Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) – what we know so far

December 2018

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.…

AHDB Farmbench for Arable Farms

November 2018

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…

RDPE Countryside Productivity Scheme - Improving Farm Productivity

September 2018

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

Example;…

AKC @ Bath Expo!

March 2018

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!!

AKC Payroll Year End Newsletter

March 2018

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 telephone number or …

New Farming Rules for Water - An Overview

January 2018

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

…

New hedgerow & Boundaries Grant

January 2018

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 available: £10,000

…

Capital Investment in Robotic Milking

January 2018

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…

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