Subsidies for Farmers

We want to provide stability to farmers as we leave the EU and set up new frameworks for supporting food production and stewardship of the countryside. So we will continue to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of the next parliament in 2022. We will work with farmers, food producers and environmental experts across Britain and within the devolved administrations to devise a new agri-environment system, to be introduced in the following parliament.

It is important that we are able to reassure farmers that they will receive the same level of financial support – and that Pillar 2 payments signed before we leave the EU will be guaranteed for their lifetime. I was proud to announce in January this year that £120 million of funding will be made available by the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) Growth Programme to support farmers, grow businesses, and generate thousands of jobs in rural communities.

I wrote in more detail on this when addressing the shortfall for the 4.5 per cent of farmers over the timings of their BPS funding, and I was pleased that I could secure a bridging payment through the Treasury for those affected. Read more on that here.