I looked a bit into the actual policy. It’s not a question about whether or not there are farming subsidies but for what subsidies are paid. As the forward for the 2021 document says:
This is an exciting time for English farming. We will be phasing out Direct Payments and introducing a new system that rewards farmers and land managers while delivering additional public goods that improve the environment.
Changes of this significance can be intimidating, and it is natural that many farmers are worried about the phasing out of Direct Payments. We will move to the new system gradually, and make changes where needed if the new policies do not work as intended. It is vital that farmers have time to adapt.
We have committed to maintaining the current annual budget in every year of this Parliament. This means funds from Direct Payments will be redirected straight back into Countryside Stewardship and our new schemes. The same amount will be available to the sector, though the way it is distributed will change
The way the money was distributed with the EU rules was having stupid affects on making unheathly food cheaper compared to healthy food. Insteadly, thinking about how farming can happen in a way that produces public goods and organizing subsidy payments to further public goods is much smarter then existing policy.
This likely means that some farmers who don’t want to change their practices will lose money relatively to what they had before while other farmers gain money.
I looked a bit into the actual policy. It’s not a question about whether or not there are farming subsidies but for what subsidies are paid. As the forward for the 2021 document says:
The way the money was distributed with the EU rules was having stupid affects on making unheathly food cheaper compared to healthy food. Insteadly, thinking about how farming can happen in a way that produces public goods and organizing subsidy payments to further public goods is much smarter then existing policy.
This likely means that some farmers who don’t want to change their practices will lose money relatively to what they had before while other farmers gain money.