In April, we published our response to the Independent review of protected site management on Dartmoor. We agreed with the recommendation to create a land use management group. I'm pleased to say that the position of chair has just been advertised. In this post, I'll share a short summary and provide links to learn more.
It's been a while since our last post. We’re glad to be back! Over the past month, we've been welcoming Defra's new ministerial team, who are fully committed to environmental land management schemes. We've been working with them to optimise our schemes and grants for farmers, food security and nature recovery. In this post, we’ll update you on the SFI rollout, provide links to new supplementary scheme guidance and share details on endorsed actions and capital items.
In a post published last month, I said I’d let you know when Parliament passed the new hedgerow regulations. Today, I’m doing just that.
In December, we shared details of a new capital grant to support smaller abattoirs in England, offered through the Smaller Abattoir Fund . To recognise the cash flow challenges that many smaller abattoirs face, we’re increasing this support. We’ve raised the intervention rate from 40% to 50% and we’ve increased the maximum grant amount from £60,000 to £75,000.
Next month, a new grant for hen housing will be available to laying hen and pullet farmers in England with flocks of 1,000 birds or more. We've just published the guidance for the grant on GOV.UK. In this post we’ll share an overview of the grant and a link to the guidance.
Through the £15 million Nutrient Management competition, we’re offering funding to develop solutions which address the challenges related to nutrient management in soils and water associated with agricultural livestock and crop production. In this post, I'll share links to the guidance so you can prepare for the competition opening on 29 May.
We want to make it easier for farmers to strengthen their businesses. To that end, several changes to permitted development rights are coming into effect from 21 May.
Our project, the Waveney and Little Ouse Landscape Recovery Project, sits on the headwaters of the 2 rivers, covering over 1,600 hectares between the towns of Diss on the Waveney and Thetford on the Little Ouse. The project seeks an opportunity to realise the invaluable services our floodplains provide. In this post, I'll share an overview of our work.
Our response to the Rock Review set out our commitments in light of its recommendations. It is now one year since we published our response. And, of the 75 commitments, we have completed or are working on 64. In this post, we’ll summarise the progress we have made over the last year. We also shine a light on the role of the Farm Tenancy Forum and the collaborative approach of one farm in Oxfordshire.
From today, small groups of farmers in England can apply for a Local Resource Option (LRO) screening study. An LRO is a water resources scheme that improves the resilience or supply of water in a local area. LRO screening studies are one way farmers and growers can better understand their options to improve the supply or resilience of water. In this post, I’ll share the background, explain how the studies work and include links to learn more and apply.
