A comprehensive review of farm inspections to remove "bureaucratic burdens" placed on farmers has been announced by Defra Secretary Michael Gove today.
The review, to be led by Dame Glenys Stacey, will look at opportunities for improving regulation and enforcement pre and post EU Exit.
It will seek out ways to reduce duplication and allow farmers to concentrate on upholding environmental and animal welfare standards as they produce food.
For example, the current inspection regime can result in farmers being visited by as many as five different bodies - the Rural Payments Agency, Natural England, The Animal Plant and Health Agency, the Environment Agency or their local authority – all asking for similar information.
Mr Gove says each visit adds to the "burden" on farmers, and the "rigidity" of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) rules require inspections of precise criteria such as field margin dimensions and the specific placement of trees in fields.
Equally, inspections over lapses such as slurry management and welfare standards are often "haphazard", Mr Gove says
The review comes as the government is preparing to publish an agriculture Command Paper that consults on future policy in this country after the UK leaves the European Union.
'Unwieldy'
Speaking at the NFU Conference today (20 February), Mr Gove said the rules associated with current subsidy payments are "unwieldy" and "counter-productive".
“They require farmers to spend long days ensuring conformity with bureaucratic processes which secure scarcely any environmental benefits and which, in turn, require a vast and inflexible bureaucracy to police,” Mr Gove explained.
“As does the current farming inspection regime, which, despite several recent attempts at simplification, remains as unwieldy as ever. Every year, farmers are confronted by a barrage of inspections from different agencies, often duplicating costs in both time and money.
Dame Glenys Stacey will be conducting a comprehensive review of this regime, seeing how these inspections can be removed, reduced or improved to reduce the burden on farmers, while enhancing animal and plant health standards.
Mr Gove added: “This review is not only long-required but also very timely as we guide our future approach and maximise the opportunities of leaving the EU. It will provide answers to some key general questions to guide our future approach, subject to the outcome of our negotiations with the EU.”
Dame Glenys has over twenty years’ experience in driving reform within public sector organisations.
The Command Paper will provide further detail on government proposals to design agricultural support fit for the future after the UK leaves the EU.
