Author Topic: Land....now what. (Read 8984 times)

greengumbo · « **on:** January 27, 2016, 05:49:14 pm »

We have recently purchased about 10 acres up in Aberdeenshire. Extremely exciting and more than a little daunting.

I have kept pigs previously and currently have quails, chooks and am an avid beekeeper with aspirations of taking that further. My wife runs a small food business in its infancy.

My plans at the moment are fairly rudimentary. I have looked at various grants etc available but its a bit of a maze to see where we fit into the Rural Payments and Services things for farmers. Have people on here been through the process for getting native hedgerows established, beetlebanks, meadows etc etc.

I am keen to establish some wild flower meadow, grow willow / hazel for our fuel (SCR or pollarding). Mainly I want to expand the honey production, rear quails for meat and egg sales in the first place.

Its a long term project but an exciting one. Thoughts and advice most welcome.

clydesdaleclopper · « **Reply #1 on:** January 27, 2016, 07:10:34 pm »

Sorry, can't help with the payments stuff as we are too small to qualify for any but wanted to say good luck. My OH is an aspiring beekeeper so I'm rather jealous.

pharnorth · « **Reply #2 on:** January 27, 2016, 07:19:26 pm »

Might be worth checking with local council if they have any environmental grants. When we moved in Cambridgeshire had noticed they had no hedges and the wind was blowing in across the fens so we got all our hedging plants supplied free. On Rural Payments we gave up. Similar acreage to yours they kept sending more and more tedious and intrusive paperwork which was aimed at bigger establishments so nearly impossible to answer many of the questions after the third or forth round we gave up replying.

juliem · « **Reply #3 on:** January 27, 2016, 11:41:01 pm »

I have 5 hectares here in Shropshire and get 950 £ per year from rural payments and £100 from Natural England.I have inherited these entitlements together with the land only 5 years ago and the money has steadily declined.Suspect the 5 hectare rule will be increased .The biggest benefactor in this counrty is the National Trust.There are a lot of hoops to jump through including the requirement for a weedkiller licence and a lot of technical paperwork.

juliem · « **Reply #4 on:** January 27, 2016, 11:45:17 pm »

The minimum land required to claim rural payments is now 5 hectares in England

greenbeast · « **Reply #5 on:** January 28, 2016, 11:04:54 am »

And i think that has to be 'farmable' doesn't it?
We have 5.8 but 2ac of it are woodland

greengumbo · « **Reply #6 on:** January 28, 2016, 11:09:59 am »

Hi All, its 3 hectares in Scotland. The land is a barley field at the moment.

Not necessarily looking for a small farm payment more to help with costs of putting in hedgerows, wildflowers, woodland (for fuel) and beetlebanks.

I think a fair few folk on here use willow in a SCR for fuel. Any hints and tips on that ?

I expect I'll be posting a lot on this forum in the years to come !

juliem · « **Reply #7 on:** January 28, 2016, 06:59:21 pm »

The Woodland Trust can be very helpful...they will provide free trees in England....but the area must be communal/ open to public access.

JackandJill · « **Reply #8 on:** January 30, 2016, 02:07:22 pm »

hi,
anyone any ideas for Wales?

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #9 on:** January 30, 2016, 05:43:03 pm »

I am not sure how much is available in grants/schemes for smallholdings in Wales. Would be worth looking into though
http://gov.wales/funding/grants/?lang=en

verdifish · « **Reply #10 on:** January 30, 2016, 07:41:19 pm »

Plenty of money available in Scotland for hedges,fencing and so on.some you can apply for simply others you will have to be in receipt of sfp. How old are you as there are entitlements available from the national land bank but age is a factor. Where abouts in Aberdeenshire out of interest.

greengumbo · « **Reply #11 on:** February 01, 2016, 12:15:21 pm »

Quote from: verdifish on January 30, 2016, 07:41:19 pm

Plenty of money available in Scotland for hedges,fencing and so on.some you can apply for simply others you will have to be in receipt of sfp. How old are you as there are entitlements available from the national land bank but age is a factor. Where abouts in Aberdeenshire out of interest.

I'm pushing 36 next month....feels old !

We are up near Tarves area. Currently trying to fill our a land management form to sort a new CPH (or transfer our old one across). Bit of a process !

greengumbo · « **Reply #12 on:** February 09, 2016, 11:24:47 am »

Okay....now trying to sort out entitlement transfers.

Can anyone explain in simple terms what the difference is between the transfer of land under the Land Maintenance Form and the transfer of entitlements ?

Also the current owner has a "deal" in place with a local farmer who basically she contracts to carry our the farming on her behalf. She told me that he does drainage, cuts hedges, plants and harvests etc then buys all the barley from her - if its a good price that year he gives her the difference in a cheque. If its a bad price then she gives him a cheque. Seems pretty good deal for the farmer if you ask me ! He said to me he is happy to rent it or continue this arrangement. We are unlikely to do much our self with the field this year as lots to do on house. Someone said renting it can effect entitlements ?

I mentioned I was more interested in planting a willow SRC acre and some wildflower meadow....they almost choked.

Rosemary · « **Reply #13 on:** February 09, 2016, 11:36:31 am »

As far as I can make out, the transfer of land is pretty straightforward - you're just telling RPID who now owns the various land parcels that make up your holding. Technically, it's the seller who is meant to do this and get your signature (I think).

Entitlements refers to the payments due from the Basic Payment scheme, which is the basic level of subsidy on farm land. It replaced the Single Farm Payment. Good luck with understanding that. Maybe someone on here can explain it. I'm not convinced the RPID people understand it.