<back to previous>
REVIEW OF AGRI-ENVIRONMENT SCHEME PAYMENT
RATES:
MEETING WITH STAKEHOLDERS, 14 JULY 2005,
PENTLAND HOUSE
NOTE OF MAIN POINTS
Present:
Ingrid Clayden, SEERAD-
FBRD
(Chair) Douglas Bell,
SAC
Derek MacKinnon, SEERAD-Agriculture Staff Jonathan Hall,
SRPBA
John Hood, SEERAD-
FBRD
Jenny Johnson,
SNH
Andrew Moxey, SEERAD-
ASD Claudia Rowse,
SNH
Scott Walker,
NFUS
Brian Kaye,
SOPA
Alison McKnight,
FWAG
Carey Coombs, Soil Association, LINK
Jenny Pickthall, SEERAD-
FBRD
Welcome, apologies etc
1. Apologies were received from Linda Rosborough
(SEERAD), Beck Shaw (
SCF), Norman
Leask (
SCF) and
Lisa Schneidau (LINK).
Agreement of previous minutes
2. Comments were received from Craig Campbell. The
first, to add to paragraph 4 the words: "except where a
higher rate is deemed to be indispensable for effective
implementation of the measure" was agreed. The second
comment referred to "parking" rates for Options 7 and 14.
It was agreed that these had been parked at £26 and £300
respectively at the last meeting. It is option 13 that was
awaiting further information.
3. The minutes were agreed subject to the above
change.
Rates to "Park"
4. Rates parked at the previous meeting were Options
1-7, 9-11, 14,18 and 22. SEERAD Agricultural staff
recalculated more
RSS rates
subject to the higher contractor rates from the
SAC
handbook and the change in labour costs. These additional
rate calculations were discussed.
5. Option 12. Management of Lowland Raised Bogs
Rate of £74 was parked.
Option 13. Creation and Management of Wetland
SNH have no
figures to provide evidence for percentage loss of yield
under this measure.
FWAG
suggested looking at 100% loss and then taking into account
the grazing value of the land.
Action: Alison to circulate
FWAG
calculations to the group by Monday
Option 15. Management of flood plain
Rate of £30 parked.
Option 16. Management of Basin and Valley Mires Buffer
Areas
Rate of £260 parked.
The group agreed both Option 15 and 16 will become
increasingly important and need to be the subject of
further discussion, separate to this review, in the context
of
LMCs and the
Water Framework Directive.
Option 17. Moorland Management
Rate of £1/ ha was parked.
Option 19. Muirburn
Rate of £11/ ha was parked.
Option 20. Bracken Eradication Programme for
Moorland
Rate of £26 was parked.
Option 21. Creation of Grass Margins or Beetlebanks
This option was agreed to have significant conservation
benefits and is very costly and difficult to implement. It
was agreed that we do not want uptake to drop so a 20%
incentive was agreed. Therefore a rate of £619 was
parked.
Option 22A. Creation of conservation headlands (No N
fertiliser)
Rate of £150 was parked with an incentive of £0.34.
Option 24. Management of Hedgerows
FWAG
calculations need to exclude annual strimming costs.
Action: Alison to liaise with Douglas and
circulate amended calculations. Action: SEERAD to draft
note with proposals for hedgerows.
Option 25. Introduction of Retention of Extensive
Cropping
It was agreed that a decent incentive was needed as this
is a valuable measure.
Rate of £120 was parked.
Option 25P. Introduction of Retention of Extensive
Cropping (Premium)
Rate of £180 was parked.
Option 26. Spring Cropping
Rate of £106 was parked. This measure does however need
to be reviewed for 2007 to dovetail with the
LMC rate for
winter stubble.
Option 27. Management of Cropped Machair
Rate with no seaweed/dung was parked at £220.
Rate with seaweed/dung was parked at £270.
Option 28. Unharversted Crops
It was agreed that a high incentive is very important
for this measure. A rate of £445 was parked.
Option 31A, B and C. Management of Ancient Wood
Pasture
Rate of £70 was parked for Option 31B.
Rate of £28 was parked for Option 31C.
Action: SEERAD will take away the calculation
for 31A and look into it further.
Option 34 and 34A. Introduction and Retention of
Cattle
It was agreed to discuss this rate next week with a
representative from
SCF
present.
OAS Rates
6. Carey raised his concern at the inconsistency in
approach between calculations for the
RSS rates and
OAS
rates, which work on very basic gross margins. He felt that
organic farming delivered the same benefits as many of the
RSS
prescriptions eg, conservation headlands. It was agreed
that a fundamental review of how we support organics in the
context of
LMCs is
needed.
7. When revisiting the calculations Andrew used the
production system assumptions agreed for previous
OAS
rates by the Organic Stakeholders Group. This meant that it
was only necessary to focus on the Unit values of the most
influential items, notably feed costs. The Rough grazing
rate in
OAS
Maintenance and other
OAS
rates need to be looked at further for the next
meeting.
Action: SEERAD to revisit calculations to
include concentrates and to revisit the feed
costs.
Action: Carey and Brian to liaise with Andrew
with aim to agree rate at next meeting.
Further Rates to Discuss
8. Management of Woodland
The Group outlined a number of issues involved in
implementing this measure: calculations are currently made
on the basis that this option is always on very poor
grounds, this is not always the case; the reduction in
LFASS
needs to be taken into account when fencing off an
area.
Action:
FWAG
and others to circulate evidence for revising the
calculations by Monday.
9. Management of Scrub
Action:
FWAG
and others to circulate evidence for revising the
calculations by Monday
10. Management of Extended Hedges
Without an incentive the calculation for this measure
gives a figure of £345.
Action:
FWAG
and others to circulate evidence for revising the
calculations by Monday
People Issues
11. SEERAD are still awaiting advice from solicitors on
a number of the people issues. Subject to legal advice we
would like to move forward deciding the ranking threshold
for 2005 applicants as soon as possible after the
conclusion of the review group. All
RSS audits will
be paid for whether the applicants decided to proceed with
their application or not.
12. SEERAD noted a number of concerns raised by the
stakeholders:
· Is it feasible for 2005 applicants to review their
applications?
· Jenny Johnson expressed concern about the lack of
public understanding of the double funding issue.
· When will existing participants get paid and at what
rate?
· Will
RSS ceilings
operate on the basis of existing rates?
Action: SEERAD to consider all of these issues
in the light of legal advice.
Confirmation of future meetings
21 July, from 10:00am - 1:00pm (Pentland House) - Andrew
Moxey to Chair
28 July, from 10:00am - 1:00pm (Pentland House) - Andrew
Moxey to Chair
4 August, from 2:00pm - 5:00pm (Pentland House)
FBRD
15 July 2005
Back to top