Press Release - Defra’s organic agri-environment scheme
31 March 2010
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and
Natural England have not optimised value for money for the almost
£200 million scheme to encourage farmers into organic farming and
deliver environmental benefits, according to a National Audit
Office report published today.
The Organic Entry Level Stewardship scheme is overseen by the
Department and run by Natural England and the Rural Payments Agency
using EU money and matched funding from UK taxpayers. Defra’s
forecasts for expenditure of EU funds assumed a constant rate of
take-up each year, which the NAO considers over-optimistic, and
present a risk that EU funds will not all be utilised.
The scheme pays organic farmers for managing their land in ways
that will protect or enhance the natural environment or historic
landscape. The scheme is likely to have achieved environmental
benefits by supporting organic farming, and the money paid to
farmers for adopting environmental land management measures has had
some impact, but this could be increased.
Farmers can choose which environmental measures to implement
and, according to the NAO survey, 57 per cent chose some measures
that involve managing features already in place on their farm. Many
of the more challenging options are rarely implemented. Defra is
now taking steps to improve the environmental impact of the scheme
by promoting better targeted measures.
Take-up of the scheme broadly reflects take-up of organic
farming methods in the farming industry as a whole. The scheme
benefits larger farms, especially in the beef and dairy sectors,
more than smaller farms.
Farmers are happy with the quality of service provided by
Natural England in administering the scheme. It has considerably
reduced the time it takes to process scheme applications and the
time taken to process payments since the start of the scheme, but
IT costs do still remain high.
Mr Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit
Office, said today:
"Defra should learn from
this scheme and get a lot better at putting credible measurement
arrangements in place to demonstrate whether public funds are being
used properly. It appears likely that Defra’s scheme helped to
deliver environmental benefits by encouraging organic farming, but
we can’t draw a similar conclusion on the land management measures
and I would have expected a greater environmental benefit for the
taxpayer’s funding
contribution."
Notes for Editors
- The Organic Entry Level Stewardship scheme is one of three
agri-environment schemes which make up Environmental Stewardship,
which is part of the Department for Environment Food and Rural
Affairs’ Rural Development Programme for England. The schemes are
overseen by defra and administered by Natural England. The Rural
Payments Agency makes payments and carries out compliance
inspections.
- The scheme requires certification as an organic farmer, and
adoption of additional land management measures chosen from a list
of options. It pays farmers £30 per hectare per year to maintain
organic certification and £30 per hectare per year for the cost of
implementing environmental management measures, such as hedgerow
management and the preservation of archaeological features or
historic buildings. Farmers converting their land to organic
farming methods can claim a further £175 per hectare per annum for
two years and £600 per hectare per annum on ‘top fruit’, such as
apples and pears, for three years.
- The Government has set aside £1.7 billion of EU funding and an
estimated £1.2 billion of UK matched funding for all
agri-environment schemes. EU funds that are not used by the end of
2015 cannot be claimed.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website, which is at www.nao.org.uk. Hard
copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702
3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, is the head
of the National Audit Office which employs some 900 staff. He and
the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 24/10
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