Farmers in England are facing an income shortfall as payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) are gradually cut to free up money for new schemes, MPS have been told.

The current plan is for the BPS in England to be wound down from 2021 to 2027, while new environment-focused schemes, such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), are rolled out.

“There has been a gap developing in policy between the certainty of BPS phasing out and the rollout of SFI where there are only initial details available,” said National Farmers’ Union vice president David Exwood.

“That gap has come at a time when farmers are facing incredible volatility and huge inflation in their costs,” he added.

Cuts

Farmers in England with annual BPS payments under £30,000 had a 5% cut applied in 2021, with 20% coming off this year and a 35% cut due to be implemented next year. Larger cuts apply to farmers with higher BPS payments.

Speaking to a committee of MPs at Westminster on Tuesday, Exwood said he accepted that BPS was being phased out in England, but he raised issues with the transition process and the slow rollout of replacement schemes.

“The timetable is one of the main issues. It’s not the policy, it’s the delivery of it. We have this very rigid and clear timetable for phasing out the old policy, and the phasing in of the new policy hasn’t kept pace,” he said.