Government ministers in England aren’t hanging around when it comes to replacing the CAP, with some more details announced on Monday on how current direct payments to farmers will be phased out by 2027.

A farmer with direct payments currently under £30,000 will have this cut in half by 2024. More severe cuts will be applied to larger payments, with the money siphoned off to mainly fund a new agri-environment scheme.

However, some of the money will also be used for grant schemes to improve farm efficiency and productivity, with a specific scheme due in 2022 principally targeted at low-emission slurry spreading equipment.

One other notable measure is a lump sum exit scheme planned for 2022, paid out in lieu of future direct payments on the understanding that the farmer leaves the sector. But like much else in the Defra document, actual details remain scant at this stage.

It will be interesting to see how English farmers adapt to these changes. Much will depend on what the new Environment Land Management Scheme entails, and whether farmers are able to use it to effectively replace lost income from direct payments.

However, it looks like English farmers are heading for rapid change, driven by politicians keen to blame the CAP for every wrong in British farming. The Defra press release on Monday talks about no longer being bound by EU bureaucracy.

But while the current EU system of area-based payments is far from perfect, in reality it is the simplest income support payment ever devised. Moving to agri-environment payments and capital grant schemes will bring more red tape, not less.

For farmers in NI and Scotland, change will be less rapid, and only minor amendments to area-based payments are expected in the next couple of years. It is a similar situation in the EU27, where the new Farm to Fork Strategy is likely to see 20% of direct payments shifted over to agri-environment schemes, starting from 2023.

So all farmers across Europe are on a similar path. The English are just going to get there first.

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