Preparing Crofts and Small Farms for 2025 and Beyond
14 August 2024Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.
Future agricultural support is changing, and while the schemes crofts and small farms are eligible for will not change in 2025, there are additional things you will have to do to access support for next year.
Like all other businesses in the sector, crofts and small farms will need to have completed at least two elements of the Scottish Government’s new Whole Farm Plan (WFP) before submitting their annual Single Application Form in 2025.
The WFP is made up of five plans and audits in total:
- Animal Health & Welfare Plan
- Biodiversity Audit
- Carbon Audit
- Integrated Pest Management Plan
- Soil Analysis
You are free to choose which two of the plans and audits you complete for your 2025 SAF and may already have some of them in place through your usual business practice and/or assurance scheme membership. However, you will be required to progressively phase in all the parts of the WFP that are relevant to your business by 2028.
Which plans and audits you select to do first may depend on your business type or activity levels, or you may decide to plan your ongoing preparation for the full implementation of the WFP on the basis of the funding support currently available. The Preparing for Sustainable Farming scheme currently offers financial support with soil analysis and carbon audits.
Carbon audits, biodiversity plans and soil analysis will need to be reviewed every five years. Therefore, any of these that you may have completed in the five years prior to May 2025 will be valid for your 2025 claim. For example, if you had a carbon audit done in 2022 and have carried out soil analysis as part of regular sampling in 2023, you are already compliant for 2025 and may wish to start thinking about what your next steps will be. It is important not to lose momentum and bear in mind that you will gradually have to complete other steps as well.
Animal health and welfare plans are applicable for livestock keepers, and Integrated Pest Management Plans for those who use plant protection products. These will need to be reviewed annually though they should, of course, only be completed if they are applicable to your business.
From 2025, there will also be new conditions for the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme across all producers, including crofts and small farms. Only calves born within 410 days of the dam’s last calving will be eligible for the support payment. A heifer’s first calf will be automatically eligible but from second calving onwards the dam must meet a maximum calving interval of 410 days. This will be assessed on an individual animal basis using ScotEID information, and you will be able to claim for all eligible calves.
There will also be some new GAEC 6 standards to meet regarding Peatlands and Wetlands. These will not impact your support claim as such, but may be used to influence and guide any land maintenance or improvement work you have undertaken.
For full guidance on the changes and what they mean for you visit the Rural Payments and Services page or have a look at this bank of FAS materials on Preparing for the Future.
Further information on the Preparing for Sustainable Farming scheme and how to access support can be found here.
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