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1.5.1 MAFF Operated Measures

MAFF Operated Measures

  1. Under the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) MAFF administers, through its Regional Service Centres, a range of production support subsidies, together with a number of agri-environmental schemes, the most significant of which are the Countryside Stewardship and ESA schemes.
  2. Total MAFF support in the South West has been between £200 million and £300 million per annum since 1995 and Table 1.38 shows the composition of that support.
Table 1.38: MAFF Financial Support to Agriculture in the South West (Source: MAFF, 1999)
Type of Funding 1995 (£'000) % of Total 1996 (£'000) % of Total 1997 (£'000) % of Total
Total Regional Support 222,206 100 289,760 100 260,076 100
Production Support 213,809 96 281,490 97 247,848 95
Agri-Environment/Social 8,312 4 7,397 3 9,261 4
Structural Funds 85 0 873 0 2,967 1
  1. Except in a few limited areas of the agri-environmental schemes the funding is not discretionary and any farmer who can meet the eligibility criteria is entitled to the appropriate payment.
  2. In addition Cornwall, much of Devon and part of Somerset is eligible for funding under the South West Periphery Objective 5b programme. The European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) is providing up to £28 million for this area with up to £19 million of MAFF money available for match funding of suitable projects.

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The South West Objective 5b Programme

  1. MAFF's rural economy objective is to stimulate additional economic activity, particularly on farms in rural areas. The Objective 5b Programme in the South West is the principal means of achieving that objective.
  2. The measures implemented by MAFF using EAGGF funds under the priorities in Paragraph 271 are:
  • Measure 2.3 - Farm tourism
  • Measure 3.1 - Development and diversification
  • Measure 4.2 - Isles of Scilly initiative
  • Measure 5.1 - Protection and enhancement of the environment
  • Measure 5.2 - Energy

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LEADER II Programme (EAGGF Funding)

  1. The LEADER (Liaison entre Action de Developpement de l'economie Rurale) programme complements the larger Objective 5b and Objective 2 programmes by responding to more specific and immediate needs. Funding is drawn from the EAGGF which is administered by MAFF, and from the ERDF and ESF which are covered in Section 1.5.2,.
  2. An allocation of £1,479,720 has been made to the South West, from the EAGGF fund, being 15% of the regions total allocation. To date there have been 91 EAGGF project applications, of which 60 have been approved.
Table 1.39: LEADER II EAGGF Programme Funding (Source: MAFF SW Regional Service Centre)
Projects approved 60
Allocated funds £ 978,826
Committed funds £ 393,101

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PESCA FIFG Programme

  1. The part of the PESCA programme which is administered by MAFF comes from the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG). Amongst the outputs of the programme to date are the creation of 28 FTE positions and the safeguarding of a further 79 FTE positions. 20 capital items have been purchased and 10 premises have been either provided or upgraded.
  2. For further information on the PESCA programme see Section 1.5.2.
Table 1.40: PESCA FIFG Programme Funding (Source: MAFF SW Regional Service Centre)
Projects approved 66
Allocated funds £ 441,483
Committed funds £ 191,052

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Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances

  1. The Less Favoured Areas are divided into two areas, namely the Severely Disadvantaged Areas (SDA) and the Disadvantaged Areas (DA). These are restricted to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon and Somerset in the South West (Map 10). The main form of support to farmers is in the form of the Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances (HLCAs). HLCAs are partly EU funded payments on eligible breeding sheep and cows to compensate for the permanent natural handicaps of LFA farming. The tables below show the relevant data for sheep and cattle respectively, broken down by number of claimants and amounts paid for the 1999 scheme year.
Table 1.41: HLCA sheep support 1999 (Source: MAFF, 1999)
County Cornwall1 Devon Somerset Total
Number of Claims 420 893 244 1,557
Amount Paid Specially Qualified (SDA) Sheep (£) 145,388 659,480 361,998 1,166,866
Amount Paid Qualified (SDA) Sheep (£) 35,859 313,958 303,647 653,464
Amount Paid Disadvantaged Area Sheep (£) 95,465 213,835 31,833 341,133
Total Paid (£) 276,712 1,187,273 697,478 2,161,463
1Includes Isles of Scilly.

 

Table 1.42: HLCA cattle support 1999 (Source: MAFF, 1999)
County Cornwall1 Devon Somerset Total
Number of Claims 480 1,019 191 1,690
Amount Paid SDA Cattle (£) 527,280 1,498,178 706,215 2,731,673
Amount Paid DA Cattle (£) 235,737 202,451 12,127 450,315
Total Paid (£) 763,017 1,700,629 718,342 3,181,988
1Includes Isles of Scilly.
  1. Table 1.43 shows the number of claims, the hectarage that was claimed on and the total amount paid out in the three eligible counties in the South West for the years 1994-1998. The amount paid during the year 1998 was almost double that of the previous and following years due to a one-off payment of emergency aid for the hill livestock sector.
Table 1.43: HLCA Claims, Eligible Area and Amounts Paid 1994-98 (Source: MAFF, 1999)
Year County Claims Total Eligible (ha.) Total Amount Paid (£)
1994 Cornwall1 681 39,378.19 922,071.16
Devonshire 1411 118,226.34 2,770,786.37
Somerset 304 34,954.96 910,675.67
Total 2396 192,559.49 4,603,533.20
1995 Cornwall1 641 38,989.47 934,427.09
Devonshire 1338 120,440.97 2,791,292.06
Somerset 285 34,176.02 863,527.39
Total 2264 193,606.46 4,589,246.54
1996 Cornwall1 715 39,357.16 942,148.32
Devonshire 1366 117,771.46 2,730,023.88
Somerset 300 32,426.43 845,205.83
Total 2381 189,555.05 4,517,378.03
1997 Cornwall1 647 37,404.33 1,879,745.19
Devonshire 1350 120,833.36 4,670,521.16
Somerset 297 33,273.20 1,313,145.54
Total 2294 191,510.89 7,863,411.89
1998 Cornwall1 652 38,774.51 1,038,830.37
Devonshire 1348 123,237.89 2,884,593.86
Somerset 284 34,872.69 898,094.37
Total 2284 196,885.09 4,821,518.60
1Includes Isles of Scilly.
  1. Under the Agenda 2000 CAP reform, from next year support for farmers in the Less Favoured Areas must be paid on an area basis. This means that the current HLCA scheme will be replaced as under it payments have been based on livestock numbers.

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Environmentally Sensitive Areas

  1. The Environmentally Sensitive Areas in the Region were launched in three tranches with start years of 1992, 1993 and 1994. The Somerset Levels and Moors ESA was expanded in 1995 into Wiltshire and in 1997 into the former county of Avon.
  2. The Cotswold Hills ESAs has 1,168 hectares of land which falls into the adjacent West Midlands Region but the majority of it is in the South West and it is from this region that it is managed. The Avon Valley ESA has 2,903 hectares of land in this region but is managed from the adjacent South East regions. The Upper Thames Tributaries ESA, which is also managed from the South East Region, extends very slightly into the South West.
  3. The uptake of agreements is shown literally in Table 1.44 and spatially in Map 26. The levels on the Dartmoor and Blackdown Hills ESAs are lower relative to other ESAs in the Region. This is partly explained by the level of incentives not proving to be sufficient to attract the commoners associations and the intensive dairy farms respectively.
Table 1.44: Environmentally Sensitive Areas - Cumulative Number of Agreements 1992-97 (Source: MAFF, 1999)
ESA County Number of Agreements
    1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
SLM Former Avon - - - - - 1
Somerset 740 859 899 937 969 1,047
Wiltshire - - - 1 1 1
SWD Dorset - 52 65 71 73 74
Wiltshire - 43 57 62 65 68
EXM Devonshire - 112 166 197 205 219
Somerset - 174 229 264 284 308
BLD Devonshire - - 84 163 260 278
Somerset - - 37 63 78 97
COT Gloucestershire - - 320 498 647 742
Former Avon - - 3 4 5 10
DTM Devonshire - - 156 354 524 582
Note: SLM=Somerset levels and Moors, SWD=South Wessex Downs, EXM=Exmoor, BLK=Blackdown Hills, COT=Cotswold Hills, DTM=Dartmoor,

Thumbnail gif link to South West Region Environmentally Sensitive Area Uptake gif

Map 26: Environmentally Sensitive Area Uptake, 1996 (Source: MAFF)

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Countryside Stewardship Scheme

  1. The Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) offers payments to farmers and other land managers to enhance and conserve the English landscapes, their wildlife and history and to help people to enjoy them. Unlike the ESA scheme agreements are available throughout England but outside ESAs, and they are targeted at certain key habitats within each region. Information on these habitats which closely follow the Countryside Character Areas is given in Section 1.2.1. Map 28 shows the number of CSS agreements by character area type, reflecting those which have been targeted in the South West, for example the Culm Grasslands, the Lizard Peninsula and the South Purbeck.

Thumbnail gif link to South West Countryside Stewardship Uptake gif

Map 27: Countryside Stewardship Uptake, 1998 (Source: MAFF)

Table 1.45: Countryside Stewardship Scheme - Uptake (Source: MAFF, March 1999)
County Number of Agreements Area under Agreement (ha) Commitment in 1999/00 (FY)
Gloucestershire 140 2,554 479,000
Former Avon 114 1,926 302,000
Dorset 214 5,525 939,000
Wiltshire 174 3,835 678,000
Somerset 223 2,154 620,000
Devonshire 603 7,733 1,595,000
Cornwall 319 5,643 955,000
Scilly Isles 24 726 63,000
Total 1811 30,096 5,631,000
% of England 21.02 21.00 21.60
Total England 8314 143,326 26,066,000

Thumbnail gif link to South West Countryside Stewardship Agreements by Joint Character Area gif

Map 28: Countryside Stewardship Scheme Agreements by Joint Character Area (Source: MAFF)

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Moorland Scheme

  1. This scheme aims to protect and improve the moorland environment by encouraging upland farmers outside ESAs to graze fewer sheep where this will improve the condition of heather and other moorland vegetation. In the South West there is little moorland outside ESAs and so no expenditure has been made under this scheme. The scheme has now been amalgamated with the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

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Nitrate Sensitive Area Scheme

  1. Nitrate Sensitive Areas (NSAs) are carefully selected areas covering groundwater sources used to supply drinking water. Incentives are offered to farmers to undertake significant changes in agricultural practices which reduce nitrate leaching, thereby helping to stabilise or reduce nitrate levels. There are 3 NSAs in the South West: the scheme closed to new applications in 1998.
Table 1.46: Nitrate Sensitive Area Scheme - Uptake (Source: MAFF, October 1998)
County NSA Name Number of holdings with agreements Area (ha.) Payments
Devonshire Duckaller 3 183.51 22,227.2
Somerset Egford 3 100.63 19,493.00
Wiltshire Ogbourne 3 262.23 41,862.55

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Habitat Scheme

  1. This scheme offers incentives to farmers to create or improve valuable wildlife habitats over 10 or 20 year agreements. The scheme is targeted on land coming out of the former voluntary Five Year Set-Aside Scheme, land suitable for conversion to saltmarsh, and land alongside watercourses and
  2. Table 1.47 gives figures for the South West for the formeer set-aside element.
Table 1.47: Habitat Scheme - Uptake (Source: MAFF, 1999)
County Number of Holdings Area Under Agreement (ha.)
Former Avon 4 116.2
Cornwall 2 27.0
Devon 9 282.9
Dorset 6 157.1
Gloucestershire 4 855.2
Somerset 4 23.6
Wiltshire 7 283.7
Total 36 1746.7

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Farm Woodland Premium Scheme

  1. This scheme aims to encourage farmers to plant trees on agricultural land. Grants towards the cost of establishing new woodlands are available from the Forestry Commission under the Woodland Grant Scheme whereas these agreements are a top-up payment to landowners to reflect the loss of income from agricultural production. Payment rates are divided between broadleaf and conifer planting, and between Less Favoured Areas and other land. The payments were aimed at achieving relatively good timber growth but using less marginal land and at safeguarding species rich grassland.
Table 1.48: Farm Woodland Premium Scheme - Uptake (April 1992- October 1999) (Source: MAFF, October 1999)
County Number of Agreements Broadleaves (ha.) Conifers (ha.) Total Area (ha.)
Gloucestershire 220 994 58 1053
Former Avon 42 176 6 182
Dorset 99 577 55 632
Wiltshire 281 838 82 920
Somerset 10 354 17 371
Devon 344 1483 735 2219
Cornwall 174 557 101 659
Total 1260 4979 1054 6036

 

Table 1.49: Farm Woodland Premium Scheme - Payments (April 1992- October 1999) (Source: MAFF, October 1999)
County Payments Paid (£) UK - £ EC - £
Gloucestershire 550 269,159 269,159 199,068
Former Avon 108 61,221 61,221 52,682
Dorset 239 120,066 120,066 101,339
Wiltshire 774 343,468 343,468 237,191
Somerset 189 88,454 88,454 58,235
Devon 718 445,633 445,633 318,488
Cornwall 440 174,295 174,295 126,949
Total 2,596,297 1,502,296 1,502,296 1,093,952

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Processing and Marketing Scheme

  1. The expenditure of the Processing and Marketing Grant scheme for the South West is shown in Table 1.50. Although the South West is the largest region in the country it has only received 7.9% and 8.4% (of EU and UK funds respectively) of the national payments. This is surprising given that the agricultural sectors which are most important to the South West, namely dairy, livestock and horticulture, are the sectors which lend readily lend themselves to value added projects as shown by the number of grants to these sectors throughout the country.
Table 1.50: Processing and Marketing Grants (Source: MAFF, 1999)
Area No. Projects Assisted EU (ECUs) UK (ECUs)
Cornwall 2 130,797.77 26,159.31
Devon 3 70,554.73 8,832.05
Dorset 4 188,156.29 29,000.52
Gloucestershire 1 18,084.59 3,616.89
Somerset 3 725,161.66 145,032.33
Wiltshire 1 41,188.63 8,237.73
Former Avon 3 579,592.10 115,917.81
South West 17 1,753,535.80 336,796.64
% England 13.6% 7.9% 8.4%
England 125 22,108,370.73 3,985,866.50
  1. There is some clustering to the distribution of grants within the Region with most of the grants being paid in the western part of the Region, except for a cluster around the Bristol/Bath conurbation.

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Page last modified: 17 August, 2005
Page published: 1 October, 2000

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs