Defra Announce 50% BPS advance

As farmers face being squeezed with price increases for inputs due to the situation in Ukraine and worldwide gas and energy prices, DEFRA have announced that the RPA will advance 50% of the value of BPS payments to farmers from the end of July 2022 with the balance to be paid from December as normal. This will be a permanent change moving forwards and is a step towards the payment structure of the new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) which aims to pay farmers quarterly for any scheme standards they have entered. The current change will stay for the remainder of the Agricultural Transition period.

Please remember that the deadline for applying for this year’s BPS is midnight on Monday 16^th May.