Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Paragraph: 59
A substantial proportion of farmed land in England is tenanted, and common land accounts for...
Conclusion
A substantial proportion of farmed land in England is tenanted, and common land accounts for a significant percentage of land delivering important public goods such as biodiversity and public access. It is important that the particular needs of 42 Environmental Land Management and the agricultural transition tenants and commoners are properly accounted for in the scheme’s design, rather than forcing them into a scheme designed for owner-occupiers. Defra also needs to ensure that Farm Business Tenancies, which tend to be short-term, are compatible with entering into ELM agreements.
Paragraph Reference:
59
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
Each of the new environmental land management schemes will be accessible to farmers in the uplands, commons and on tenanted land. We are actively engaged with representatives across each of these sectors to make sure that scheme design works in each of these circumstances. We have designed new flexibilities into the Sustainable Farming Incentive, in close consultation with farming organisations including the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA), Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and National Farmers’ Union (NFU), to ensure the scheme is accessible to tenant farmers. For the early rollout of the scheme in 2022, scheme agreements will be 3 years (compared with a minimum of 5 years in Countryside Stewardship) and there will be annual flexibility to add standards, land and levels of ambition into agreements. In the first year, tenants with only 2 years left on their tenancy will be able to enter into the scheme. Tenant farmers will be able to enter into the scheme without proving they have landlord permission (although they will be