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Flicker of hope for farmers?
THE Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMS) is set to stay, but farmers and landowners will have to wait a little longer for the details, it was announced last week. Speaking to the CLA conference, Thérèse Coffey was expected finally to provide the numbers behind the Government’s scheme to replace the EU’s Basic Payments System (BPS), yet, to the dismay of many in attendance, instead teased an announcement for early 2023. In her speech, she said that ELMS will consist of three separate schemes, but questions remain as to what specifically those schemes are and what the funding split will be.
Her remarks came after a rousing opening address by CLA president Mark Tufnell, who implored the Government to ‘unlock the potential of the rural community’. In a wide-ranging speech, he spoke about issues with housing, digital investment and the continuing wait for further detail on post-Brexit subsidy. He spoke of the ‘tenacity’ of the countryside to succeed, but added that ‘tenacity alone cannot grow the rural economy’. With Dr Coffey in the audience, he lambasted MPs rebelling against proposed housing plans as an example of poor policy making around the countryside, saying that the ‘policy environment is no better than 12 years ago and, in some cases, is worse’.
He also pointed out that, when it comes to unlocking the potential of the rural economy, the countryside needs
