Preparation is the ‘Key to Success’

Whilst it is no doubt nice to be able to look back on what, for many, has been a successful year in the farming calendar, with all commodity prices showing significant gains on recent years, as everyone in agriculture is aware, this shouldn't mask the changes that we all face in terms of the pending start to the reduction in the payments received under the Basic Payment Scheme.

As a starting point, we suggest that a sensible exercise would be to deduct monies received under the Basic Payment Scheme from the farm's year end results, to get a realistic indication of where the business will be once BPS has gone. Many will say we still don't have enough information to be able to plan ahead and will therefore feel relatively comfortable given recent prices, particularly in the livestock sector.

There are however things that can and should be done in advance of the introduction of new schemes becoming effective in 2024. The Sustainable Farming Incentive is a good example of a pilot scheme where monies can be immediately obtained to help replace the loss of the Basic Payment to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the level of commitment that individual farmers are willing to make.

Planning ahead and researching such incentives will ensure that farmers are better placed to deal with the changes and to soften the blow of them. In our view, many of the payments offered under such a scheme would not involve radical change on the part of individual farming methods, and therefore even considering them cannot be anything other than constructive.

Such a scheme will not be for everyone, but we are increasingly of the view that those who prepare well for the pending change, will be in a far stronger position than those that don't. There are of course other smaller pilot schemes, both available and being announced on a regular basis, all of which should be carefully monitored when proactively looking to protect and enhance farm businesses during a period of change.

Should anybody have any queries or wish to seek broader advice, we of course will be willing to help.

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