Agriculture Bill Update: How can farmers prepare for the implementation of the Agriculture Bill?
The new Conservative government published a revised Agriculture Bill on 16th January, with the intention that it is passed by Parliament before the UK leaves the EU.
It replaces the previous Bill that was published in October 2018 although the majority of the proposals in it are the same.
We have summarised its main proposals in ten points in our latest paper – Download here
It should be read alongside the Environment Bill (see our short summary here) and the government’s timetable for introducing its ‘public goods for public money’ scheme, which will be called the Environmental Land Management System (ELMS) (see our summary here).
The Bill applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, although the latter two countries can decide many of their own reforms. The Scottish government is not taking powers in the Bill, at present.
Although it contains more detail than its predecessor, a number of key issues for farming will be dealt with by other legislation and policy. The Bill does not mention future agricultural worker’s policy, trade policy or whether UK standards for food production will be maintained
