Defra’s pilot support for new entrants is also opening, a series of regional projects will help new entrants to develop entrepreneurial skills and incubate their new businesses.

In Wales up to £30,000 per project is now available to help develop proposals for peatland restoration schemes. In Scotland details of the mitigation proposed to minimise the impact of Britain’s first ‘vertical’ spaceport have been set out.

FOOD & FARMING

Slurry Infrastructure grant scheme opens
The first round of the Slurry Infrastructure grant opens for applications from farmers in England on 6th December 2022. Farmers will be able to apply for grants of up to £250,000 to improve their slurry storage, helping them to prevent water and air pollution and make the best use of their organic nutrients. £13 million will be made available in this first round of the grant and it will be targeted at helping farmers to build six months of slurry storage capacity. Grants of £25,000 - £250,000 will be offered to fund the cost of slurry stores, covers and supporting equipment. Grants can be used to build, replace or expand storage. They can also contribute towards a range of solutions like lagoons, steel and concrete ring tanks and large slurry bags.

Investing in good slurry management is an important step farmers can take to protect the environment and make best use of nutrients for crop growth. Badly managed slurry results in nitrates and phosphates leaching into rivers and the sea, which damages habitats and wildlife. Defra states approximately half of slurry stores in England are not fit-for-purpose and hopes this new scheme will help reduce the 60% of nitrate pollution, 25% of phosphate pollution and 87% of ammonia emissions that currently come from agriculture. The grant is available to those who farm pigs, dairy or beef. Both land owning and tenant farmers can apply. Farmers are not eligible for funding if they already have six months’ serviceable slurry storage, do not currently produce slurry or if they intend to use the store for anything other than storing slurry. If you would like to discuss the scheme further, please contact Georgina Sweeting.

Wheat grown without soil
Vertical farming has produced the equivalent of 117 tonnes of wheat per hectare. Trials by Infarm, a Berlin-based vertical farming start-up, demonstrated 'exceptional results', giving a projection of 11.7 Kg of grain per square metre per year and all without any need for soil or pesticides. The company believes indoor yields could increase by a further 50% with more technological development. Whilst the headline is impressive, vertical farms face significant obstacles in producing commodity crops at scale and are unlikely to be able to demand a premium for a mass-produced commodity crop like wheat. The sector however continues to wrestle with high energy and production costs, and Infarm has just announced that around half its global workforce will be laid off as it reduces its growth ambitions and focuses on operations that can achieve profitability in 2023.

POLICY

New Entrant Scheme launches
Defra wants to better support new entrants into farming and land-based businesses, through business incubation by providing tactical support to young businesses through the early stages of development. It will open a pilot scheme to individuals with some farming experience, but not their own land-based business, and individuals with four to 10 years of experience of running a land-based farming business. Defra is hoping to recruit 200 pilot participants and is encouraging those thinking about starting a land-based business or scaling up an existing business to consider applying. The pilot is for arable, livestock, horticulture, agro-forestry and environmental services businesses. Those who gain a place on the pilot will also be able to benefit from other Defra support schemes. The pilot will be free to access, activities will take place in the evenings and during weekends or online, recruitment will start in December and run until spring 2023. 

This England-based scheme will be delivered by pilot leads each of whom will set their own entry deadlines:

• West Midlands – Harper Adams University

• South West – School for Social Entrepreneurs

• North East – School for Social Entrepreneurs

• South West – The Landworkers’ Alliance

• South East – Shared Assets

Landowners wishing to work with new entrants are also encouraged to engage with these pilot projects. To apply or register interest, contact the relevant pilot lead.

Further controversy over ELMs
There have been widely leaked details of further changes to the proposed Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes in England. The leaked details emerged after a stakeholder meeting held in mid-November and were reported on in the Farmers Guardian. Defra has not denied the leaked details, nor has it confirmed them to be true. The changes include retaining the name Countryside Stewardship instead of a Local Nature Recovery Scheme. This may be a positive outcome as Countryside Stewardship is already widely understood but has room for more ambitious development. It was also leaked that the Sustainable Farming Incentive will be simplified, and Landscape Recovery could be scrapped altogether however some sources believe this to be unlikely. Clarity over Defra’s direction of travel would be welcomed across the sector.

ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL CAPITAL

Grant launches for peatland restoration in Wales
Natural Resources Wales has launched capital development grants of between £10,000 and £30,000 to improve the conditions of Welsh peatlands. This grant is available to individuals and organisations across the private and public sectors and is intended to enable peatland restoration feasibility studies and project development. Applications can be for funding to cover up to 100% of project costs, and match funding can be included. The grant can be spent on direct project job costs, equipment, contractors, consultancy, overheads, publicity and engagement. Recipients will be expected to measure and provide information on peat depth, restoration design proposals and the size of the restoration project. Applications will be scored, with proposals outside Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons National Park receiving a higher score. The deadline for applications is midnight on 8th February 2023.

COP15 targets and government rhetoric
COP15 takes place in Montreal from 7th – 19th December 2022. This is the UN’s Biodiversity Conference, where governments from around the world will convene to agree a new set of goals for nature over the next decade through the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 framework process. Ahead of the conference, the UK’s leading nature agencies have set out their commitments to boost nature recovery in the UK and abroad. Nature conservation agencies from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have stressed the UK must expand its ambition to achieve the UK’s commitment to halt species decline and do much more to align action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and tackle climate change. The UK intends to take a leading role in setting new targets and ambitions at COP15, championing the 30by30 target (a target to protect at least 30% of land and ocean by 2030) and initiatives to increase the flow of private finance into nature recovery. Read our new Nature-based solutions Spotlight to find out more about how investing in nature can help tackle the challenges facing society.

PROPERTY & DEVELOPMENT 

De facto ban on solar farms
Plans for an effective ban on solar farms in England looks set to continue. Environment secretary Thérèse Coffey has told the House of Commons “it is really important that we make the best use of our land, to have the food security that was referred to earlier". She went on to say “by and large, I think most people in this country would agree let us have good agricultural land for farming and let us use our brownfield sites for other energy projects too.” Shadow minister for Climate Change and Net Zero Kerry McCarthy said, “from the ban on onshore wind to blocks on solar, every week it becomes clearer that Rishi Sunak is a fossil fuel prime minister in a renewable age”.

Defra has stated the government will be continuing to look at ways to protect farming and energy security through a review of best and most versatile land. If the government extends the definition of best and most versatile land to cover grade 3b agricultural land, it will amount to an effective ban on solar as most grade 4 and 5 land is unsuitable for solar. For more information on renewable energy on farms, consult our Spotlight on Energy Security and Infrastructure.

Business & Economy

Australian trade deal a failure for UK
The former Secretary of State for the Environment George Eustice, spoke out in a Commons debate to reveal he believes the UK’s free trade deal with Australia was “not actually a very good deal for the UK”. Mr Eustice openly criticised the deal, which he worked on as Environment Secretary, saying that now he is on the backbenches he no longer feels obliged so put “such a positive gloss on what was agreed”. Mr Eustice argued the Australia free trade deal, the first post-Brexit deal negotiated from scratch, gave away too much for far too little in return, specifically in relation to the fact Australia now has full access to the UK market to sell beef and sheep, while it still bans the import of British beef. Mr Eustice blames Liz Truss, the then Trade Secretary, for rushing the deal through and allowing Australian negotiators to ‘shape the terms’ of the agreement.

In response, a source close to Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said “Australia has huge markets in Asia and does not use their tariff-free allocations. The former environment secretary is mistaken in his attack – this deal will not damage British farming".

OTHER RURAL NEWS

And finally…
Soundproof holes to protect otters from rocket noise at UK spaceport
The Island of Unst in the Shetland Islands is due to be home to Britain’s first ‘vertical’ spaceport next year. The operators of the SaxaVord Spaceport have committed to avoid disturbing the 135 different animal species on the island, as concerns emerge over the ‘explosive noise’ of launch rockets. It has pledged to implement a no-launch window between mid-May and late June each year to avoid disturbing birds during the early brooding period and has also been advised to protect otters by creating additional holts and shelters, some with soundproofing from turfs, to give animals a place to hide from the noise of launches and warning sirens. There has already been an underpass built for otters to cross the road that will be used to transport rockets to the launchpad.