Farming Diary by Mark Barrow, partner, Armitstead Barnett:

DECEMBER is turning out to be an exciting month and I was pleased that the first message I received - at 6am on December 1 - was from an ecstatic claimant to tell me their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) had landed.

Whilst it’s commonly known that claims of less than £30,000 have reduced by five per cent in value this year compared to last year, we have noticed, on behalf of some clients, that there have been some discrepancies in payment amounts which we’ve had to look into, so it’s worth taking some time to double-check your payment amounts. To note, payments are expected to reduce by 20 per cent in 2022 and it will be important, more than ever, to look at alternative opportunities and income streams.

In terms of replacing the lost BPS monies, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has recently released the long-awaited Farming Equipment and Technology Fund, which is open for applications until noon on January 7, 2022. Top of the list seem to be heat-recovery units and 10-metre dribble bars, but there is everything from grants towards automatic scrapers, cattle crushes and much more.

In terms of the property market, we’ve had the recent successful tender deadlines for Holme Farm at Carlisle, 230 acres of land at Windermere and land at Yealand all attracting strong interest and showing good levels of demand for agricultural and amenity property. Coming around next week we have the deadline for the former Linbeck Mill at Ravenglass at noon on Wednesday, December 22. This week, I’ve been working on the sales particulars for a smallholding near Kirkby Lonsdale with land, stables and a detached office, along with another one for the equine enthusiasts with an equipped set of stables and 5.5 acres of productive meadow near Dalton.

In terms of changing legislation and requirements, we have recently assisted with a number of SCAIL assessments to assist agricultural planning applications. SCAIL stands for Simple Calculation of Atmospheric Impact Limits, and our latest success was a slurry store close to a Natural England Site of Special Scientific Interest, where we were able to justify the need and environmental benefits for the store as well as the farm's current mitigation measures to reduce air pollution - including automatic scrapers.