Sussex farmers 'further out of pocket' from new government payment scheme

Farming minister Mark Spencer announced that farmers could receive up to a further £1,000 per year for protecting and enhancing nature and delivering sustainable food production.

The system is designed to replace the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), under which farmers received direct payments when the UK was in the EU.

According to the Conservatives, BPS provided ‘ineffective and unfair subsidies’ for simple land ownership and the new scheme will instead reward farmers or growing food and improving the environment.

However, Lewes’ Liberal Democrat candidate James MacCleary believes many farmers will be much worse off, after experts said the government’s plans were nowhere near enough to provide a secure future for the sector – which has been battered by the cost of living crisis, soaring energy and fertiliser prices, the impact of Covid-19 and Brexit.

Mr MacCleary said: “The Conservatives are letting our farmers down badly. They were told that after Brexit there would be replacement schemes that would mean they received more funding than they got when the UK was in the EU.

“The new schemes announced by the Conservatives are so far short of what they promised that they could put local farmers out of business altogether.

“Worse still is that there is no money available to compensate farmers for having to implement the Conservatives’ new schemes. That means farmers are even further out of pocket.

"I believe farming is more than just a business and hope that Lewes’ Conservative MP, Maria Caulfield, will put the needs of local farmers ahead of party loyalty and join me in speaking out against these reforms that do so much to harm British farming.”

The NFU said many farmers are in danger of being put out of business by the government's new scheme due to the ‘rapid erosion’ of direct payments and called for a delay to the the phase out of BPS.

David Exwood, vice-president of the NFU, said: "It’s a sad reflection of the scheme’s progress and development that NFU members know more about what they will lose in direct payments than what they will gain from taking part in these new schemes.”

However, the Lewes Conservative MP Maria Caulfield said the new scheme would support farmers and landowners in making space for nature alongside sustainable food production.

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Ms Caulfield said: “I recently met with local farmers who are very pleased to be moving to the new payment system. One local farmer in Iford, for example, is taking full advantage of the new payments, which will improve food production but also improve local biodiversity.

“This was never possible under the old scheme which was paying land owners for the land they owned rather than directly to many farmers for the production of food.

“Myself and the Conservative government are very grateful to British farmers, especially those in Lewes, for all they do and we are committed to supporting them through this transition as it is crucial we strengthen our environment and support our thriving food and farming sector.”