The Tenant Farmers Association’s National Chairman, Greg Bliss, National Vice-Chairman, Stephen Wyrill and Chief Executive, George Dunn met DEFRA Secretary of State Caroline Spelman and Minister of State, Jim Paice today in London.
Speaking after the meeting Greg Bliss said "it was a really useful meeting and it was good to engage with a Ministerial team who had a clear understanding of the issues that we were talking about. We were very quickly into the detail and did not have to spend too long explaining the background".
"We wanted to highlight the need for the Government to ensure that it considered the special circumstances of tenant farmers when it was developing policy. Too often those who develop Government policy for agriculture unconsciously assume that all farmers are owner-occupiers and are able to make their own decisions about how to respond to Government schemes and initiatives. However, for those farming as tenants, decisions have to be made within a more complex set of circumstances. How the tenant farmer responds to policy will have much to do with the impact of tenancy legislation, the framework of the tenancy agreement in place and the ongoing relationship with the owner of the land being farmed, " said Mr Bliss.
The point was illustrated during the meeting with the way in which DEFRA and Natural England have implemented Environmental Stewardship Schemes such as the new Uplands Entry Level Scheme which fails to define adequately whether it is the landlord or the tenant which has the ’management control’ set out in EU legislation. This allows both to have access to the schemes but to the exclusion of the other party and has resulted in many tenant farmers being locked out of these schemes.
"Both the Secretary of State and Minister of State understood our concerns fully and agreed that the national implementation of this EU rule should be looked at again. This is particularly pertinent and urgent in the case of many upland farmers who have lost the payment of the Hill Farm Allowance and are unable to access the new Uplands Entry Level Scheme," said Mr Bliss.
Other topics covered at the meeting included tenancy succession, diversification, CAP reform, regulation, rural housing, County Council Smallholdings and food security.