Farmers have received payments totalling £57.5m from the Farming Recovery Fund so far, the government confirmed this week. Around 13,000 farmers were impacted by severe wet weather, including Storms Henk and Babet, between October and March last year, with more than 12,700 recovery payments ranging from £2,895 – £25,000 now being made.
These are one off recovery payments which will support land recovery activities such as soil remediation, recultivation and the removal of any debris caused by flooding.
The vast majority (95%) of eligible farm businesses have now received their payments after the funding was confirmed two weeks ago on 13 November. Outstanding payments will continue to be made.
Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner said, “In two weeks we have paid over £57 million to farms affected by devastating flooding – £10 million more than the previous government. However, we are going further by investing £5bn for the farming budget over two years – with the largest ever directed at sustainable food production in our country’s history.” The minister said, “This demonstrates this government’s steadfast commitment to farmers.”
The government also recently confirmed that £50 million would be distributed to internal drainage boards (IDBs), the public bodies responsible for managing water levels for agricultural and environmental needs in a particular area.
The Environment Agency and Met Office data has been used to identify which farm businesses will receive the recovery payment. This data on river flooding and exceptional rainfall has allowed Defra to pinpoint affected land and make payments directly to eligible farms. By focussing on those with the most significant impacts, this approach ensures the payment contributes to uninsured costs resulting from the extreme wet weather.
The recovery payments are focussed on exceptional wet weather impacts in this period and therefore those who are most likely to have had the most significant impacts. Eligibility covers areas of the most extensive river flooding from the two largest storms in the period plus the areas where extreme rainfall occurred over the six months.
How the payment has been calculated:
- An amount of land in eligible areas identified that were affected by high river levels and flooding (from satellite data based on river gauge readings)
- An amount of land in eligible areas identified with extreme rainfall (excluding land already counted for flooding)
- Add the amounts of land calculated in step 1 and step 2 together
- Apply the payment band based on the total eligible hectares.
- If, for example, the amount of land parcels affected totals between 1 and 25 hectares of eligible land, farmers will receive a one-off payment of £2,895. The more land affected, the higher the payment, according to the table below.
Payment bands:
- 1.00 – 25.00 ha £2,895
- 25.01 – 50.00 ha £4,875
- 50.01 – 75.00 ha £8,125
- 75.01 – 100.00 ha £11,375
- 100.01 – 125.00 ha £14,625
- 125.01 – 150.00 ha £17,875
- 150.01 – 175.00 ha £21,125
- 175.01 ha and above £25,000
The recovery payments will only be made to farmers in England as an exceptional, one-off contribution towards the uninsured costs incurred from returning their land to its pre-flooding condition.