03/07/21 - Farming Today This Week: The Sustainable Farming Incentive, the future of arable, the OEP and sugar prices.

Farming Today

• Episode: 03/07/21 - Farming Today This Week: The Sustainable Farming Incentive, the future of arable, the OEP and sugar prices.
• Website: Farming Today
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj8q/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:25:08
• Published: 2021-07-03 08:00

Charlotte Smith wraps up a week of farming news, including a trip to Cereals 2021. DEFRA announced some long-awaited details on the Sustainable Farming Incentive this week. That's tier 1 of the Environmental Land Management Schemes - the new system of public money for public goods that’s replacing farm subsidies from the EU in England. We hear from the Secretary of State, George Eustice, who says under the SFI, the Government will give farmers money to employ a vet of their choice to draw up an animal welfare plan. There will also be an option to apply for payments to improve soil quality - they would range from £21 to £70 a hectare and farmers could apply under different sections; arable and horticulture, grassland, and moorland. British sugar is taking the Government to court, claiming the decision to allow 260,000 tonnes of raw cane sugar to be imported into the UK tariff free after Brexit is, in effect, a subsidy which puts British farmers as a disadvantage. We hear from the Chair of the new Office for Environmental Protection - which was launched this week. The OEP has been set up to hold the Government to account on progress towards its environmental targets and to receive citizens' complaints about failures by public authorities. But environmental groups are worried it might not have adequate powers or resources to do its job properly, and in the House of Lords last week, concerns were raised about its independence. Presented by Charlotte Smith Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons