The Government has released further details on the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) Reforms, looking at how it will affect young and new farmers.

Defra, along with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), Natural England, the Forestry Commission and the Rural Development Team, has published a leaflet as part of a drive to ensure people know what they need to do to claim and when.

Young farmers

Getting young farmers into the industry has become a bit of a challenge. Figures showed that in 2011, just 4% of farmers were under the age of 35.

Farming Minister George Eustice said that if the farming industry is to continue to thrive, it’s vital to encourage the brightest and best new talent into farming.

George Chichester, Partner in Strutt & Parker’s Farming Department, said: "The fact that there is such a low figure of farmers aged under 35 does point to the need to encourage young blood into agriculture by giving them every bit of help that we can.  This is a very welcome move".

The leaflet contains vital information for new and young farmers explaining how they could be eligible for new Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) entitlements from the National Reserve.

The reserve is a fund of around 3% of the total BPS budget for England which will be used to create entitlements for young farmers and new farmers. A further two per cent of the budget will be used to give extra money to young farmers if they have taken control of their farm in the last five years.

The leaflet also look at how young farmers can find out whether they are eligible to claim a top-up payment worth up to 25% of the average value of their entitlements.

The RPA will allocate the entitlements according to the amount of eligible land farmers declare on their 2015 BPS application and how many entitlements they already have.

Most existing Single Payment Scheme (SPS) customers will qualify for BPS, but some operating certain non-agricultural businesses will not be eligible.

Hedges

The leaflet also includes more information about hedges and how they can be counted as Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs).

For a hedge to be classed an EFA, it must grow on, or adjacent to, arable land which forms part of a holding and has a continuous length of at least 20 metres, or is part of any such length, or a continuous length of less than 20 metres where it meets another hedge at each end.

The leaflet also points to a turnaround in policy regarding BPS payments. In the previous leaflet, it was advised that if a farmer wants to use hedges as part of their EFA, this could delay their 2015 BPS payment.

However, an approach is now planned that would mean farmers who make claims involving hedges as part of EFAs will not be at a disadvantage in the timing of their payments.