In 2010 Defra fundamentally changed the way in which upland farmers in England were supported, replacing the area based Hill Farm Allowance (HFA) with a new strand of entry level Environmental Stewardship (ES) aimed specifically at the uplands, ‘Uplands ELS’. Transitional payments are available to those receiving HFA in 2010 but not immediately eligible for Uplands ELS.
Defra have done an analysis of the uptake position in July 2011 and compares the characteristics of these farms with those that did not have Uplands ELS agreements or receive the Uplands Transitional Payment (UTP) in 2011. The main findings are:
Uptake
• By the 4th July 2011, there were 4,655 Uplands ELS agreements covering some 702 thousand hectares (54%) of agricultural land in the Severely Disadvantaged Areas (SDA). Uptake appears to be much greater in the North York Moors (81%) and Northumberland and North Pennine regions (76%). Uptake appears to be considerably lower in the Peaks (25%), Welsh Borders (34%) and South West (37%).
• In terms of combined uptake, around 80% of agricultural land in the SDA area is covered by those with Uplands ELS agreements and 2011 UTP. Uptake was greatest in Northumberland and North Pennine and Lake District regions (around 90%) and lowest in the South Pennines (56%).
• Those farms without a valid 2011 UTP claim and yet to have an Uplands ELS agreement are more likely to be very small, of farm types other than grazing livestock, to have a greater proportion of their farm business outside the SDA and are less likely to have been in receipt of the HFA compared to the group of farms within these schemes. There is a clear difference in the level of reliance on environmental payments. Those for which no link could be found were significantly less likely to suggest that the level of environmental payments would be a future challenge than other farms.
Popularity of Options • Excluding the compulsory upland requirements, Uplands ELS agreements are comprised, on average, of 1.4 Uplands ELS options and 4.5 ELS options. By far the most popular Uplands ELS options across England to date have been UL18 (Cattle grazing on upland grassland and moorland), UB11 (Stone wall protection and maintenance on/above the moorland line) and UL20 (haymaking). Each of the other options has been taken up by fewer than 260 agreements.
Land Tenure • In terms of tenure, those farms in receipt of UTP or in Uplands ELS are more likely to have a tenancy agreement (particularly of at least one year) than those farms not in these schemes.
Main conclusions: One of the key specific questions for the NFU has been how well the new arrangements which were put in place in 2010 (i.e. Uplands ELS and the UTP) have managed to fill the income gap for upland farm businesses formerly in receipt of the HFA payment. Defra’s analysis shows that it has not been possible to link 16% of businesses that claimed the HFA in 2010 with an agri-environment scheme agreement or the 2011 UTP. This relatively high number may partly be due to analytical issues surrounding the linking of separate administrative datasets. Differing eligibility rules for landlords and tenants between HFA and Uplands ELS (and hence differing business identifiers between the two datasets for the same land area) may also be a contributory factor. For this reason, the 16% should be regarded as an upper bound. The proportion rises to around 30% in the Peaks and South Pennines but is around 9-10% in the three most northerly regions and the South West Moors. These businesses tend to be very small in terms of both economic size and SDA area, accounting for 9% of the non-moorland SDA area claimed under the 2010 HFA and 5% of the SDA moorland area.
This report does provide at least an early indication that the majority of those who previously claimed the HFA in 2010 are now receiving either Uplands ELS or the UTP. However, there are some gaps and significant regional differences that warrant further analysis, for example the generally lower UTP/agri-environment uptake in the Peaks and South Pennines compared with other upland regions.
You can read the full report which has some quite useful regional breakdowns on the Defra website
here.
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