By Mark Barrow, Associate director, H&H Land & Estates:

A LOT seems to have happened since my last diary update - Coronavirus certainly wasn’t as much on the cards back then.

Thinking about Coronavirus, what resonates most with me is the similar feelings to those associated with the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, only this time it isn’t just the agricultural industry most affected.

I don’t need to remind everybody how emotional a time foot and mouth was for those in Cumbria - the movement restrictions, disinfectant and effects on the farming industry - but I’m hopeful that many of the lessons learned then will benefit the outbreak of Coronavirus we face today. We were impacted on the family farm: I remember bathing in Dettol after coming home at the end of the day and pulling out of my rugby commitments for fear of rubbing shoulders with others. Still to this day I partly attribute foot and mouth to my early retirement from rugby!

On a more positive note, the latest round of Countryside Stewardship grants has opened. I would strongly encourage landowners looking to strengthen and best position their business in view of the looming Brexit to entertain how their business can benefit from these grants. There are three levels of grant: the hedge and boundary grant offering £10,000 per annum for hedge and wall repairs; mid-tier schemes offering unlimited capital grant monies including roofing-over of muck middens/silage pits and concreting of yards; and higher-tier schemes targeting those farms which can deliver significant conservation gains, usually including farms with ‘site of special scientific interest’ land or moorland.

Given the timing, prime in the middle of lambing season and around the Basic Payment Scheme application window, I would advise anybody interested in these schemes to make contact with an advisor as soon as possible to ensure that none of the key deadlines are missed.

On the property front, we are preparing numerous properties to launch this spring. The weather has not helped but, following the three storms, I would hope that this period of warmer weather we are feeling is a sign of spring and that it is here to stay.

I have had several calls from parties looking for rough land to plant with a view to offsetting carbon emissions, and it will be interesting to see how this new interest affects the land market. The 74 acres of land I have to let near Kirkby Stephen on a five-year farm business tenancy will be a good indication of this year’s rental market, with most grazing agreements being agreed at similar levels (assuming they have had regular reviews previously).