Previously the European Commission’s greening requirements required farmers to carry out specified practices to qualify for additional payments.
The UK plans to end the need to comply with the EU-delivered greening requirements and move towards the ELM scheme, which they say will deliver greater benefits for the environment.
The transition period will last for seven years and see Direct Payments to farmers in England phased out and replaced with a new system that rewards farmers for delivering public goods, such as tree or hedge planting, river management to mitigate flooding, and creating or restoring habitats for wildlife.
The Environment Secretary, George Eustice, said the EU greening requirements added little to the environment, which seems an odd thing to say given that Twitter is full of farmers proudly showing off their wildflower margins.
The Environment Secretary’s main focus on the benefits of the transition from an EU subsidy system to a UK subsidy system seems to be on reducing the administrative burden for farmers and vague statements about delivering public goods.
Most UK farmers I talk to readily admit that while the form filling is a bit of a drag, pound for pound it easily gives the best rate of return for hours worked.
Also defining and measuring public goods seems to me like a recipe for more red tape not less.
Further details on plans for the agricultural transition period will be set out in Autumn 2020.