THOUSANDS OF English farmers who have been waiting for several years to receive payments under DEFRA’s agri-environmental schemes will get their overdue money by the end of July, it was announced today, June 19.

A total of £150million will arrive in the bank accounts of 22,500 farmers, some of whom have been waiting for payment under the environmental stewardship and countryside stewardship schemes for as long as four years.

NFU vice-president Guy Smith spoke to the BBC Farming Today programme on the morning the announcement was made: “We have to welcome the end of what has been a saga with years of people waiting for money. Farmers have had to dip into their own pockets first, to pay to do the work they have done, so the moral claim for it is very clear, and for the government to leave people waiting for two years is simply unacceptable.

“I know of plenty of farmers who are owed tens of thousands of pounds and whose businesses have been placed in jeopardy. The chancellor in this year’s budget said he would come down hard on businesses which are repeat late payers – well he could look at his own agencies sometimes,” he said. “If farmers see this money in July it will be a mighty relief but not a moment too soon.”

He went on to stress that DEFRA must learn from the mistakes they have made in previous schemes and ensure their future IT system is properly tried and tested before the new agricultural payments system comes into force post Brexit. He also stressed that farmers should be able to receive compensation when payments are late.

“We want these agreements to have actionable dates in them so if people aren’t paid, they can go to a court just like anyone else if they haven’t received the money and take a case and get what is owed to them,” he urged.

The Chief Executive of the Rural Payments Agency, Paul Caldwell admitted that farmers have lost confidence in the system but claimed this would be rectified moving forward: “We are determined to build on the improvements that we have already put in place, keep up a regular cycle of timely payments, and restore confidence in these schemes which are so important for our environment.”

“We want farmers to get on with the business of restoring and promoting the environment while we sort these measures out,” he commented.

On the topic of compensation owed to farmers who have fronted the costs of environmental schemes on the basis that timely payments would be made to them, he replied: “Compensation isn’t due under this scheme and the scheme is designed to pay people for services they have rendered. The key point is to end uncertainty, make payments to as many people as quickly as possible.”

The future Environment Land Management scheme will replace Countryside stewardship and environmental stewardship schemes on departure of the EU and is due to undergo tests and trials with farmers and industry groups before being rolled out in late 2024.