Opinion: George Eustice on Lump Sum Exit Scheme for farmers

There are many things that make the farming business unique, but one of the most powerful is that most farmers have an emotional connection with their land.

For farmers, home is more than just the house they live in. In many cases land has been in the same family for generations.

Herds of cattle or flocks of sheep have genetic lines running back generations.

For all of these reasons, the decision to retire or to exit the industry can be the most difficult of decisions, and is frequently postponed.

See also: Further details of the Lump Sum Exit Scheme

The generational nature of farming also means that a younger generation often feels a great sense of duty to carry on the family tradition, but that might not be right for all.

What about those who feel pride in what their family have achieved, but actually yearn to pursue a different career?

Or those who would like to do something different for a while, but maybe return to the family farm in later life? Often, inter-generational conversations on these tricky questions are too difficult to have.

At the other end of the spectrum are a completely different set of people: those who yearn to get into farming, but cannot afford to enter the industry nor get access to land.

Those who left the family farm as teenagers and saw their parents sell their land, only to discover that in later life they would like to return to the countryside they miss, to do something that is fulfilling and has meaning, and for their children to have the childhood they had.

In the middle of last year, we consulted on our proposal to offer farmers who want to exit the industry a one-off lump sum payment to surrender their Basic Payment Scheme entitlements.

It remains our intention to do so and the response we’ve published this week sets out how the scheme will work – including our plan to adopt a more flexible approach to partnerships and limited companies than we had originally proposed.

We plan to open the scheme for applications in April 2022. Additionally, we recognise the importance of providing additional support for new entrants alongside the Lump Sum Exit Scheme.

We agree that attracting bright new talent into food and farming is vital for a sustainable and productive agriculture sector.

We will therefore provide funding to create lasting opportunities for new entrants to access land, infrastructure and support to establish successful and innovative businesses.

The details and eligibility criteria of our new entrant scheme are being designed, and we will embark on a series of pilots later this year.

As part of this process, we are looking at how the scheme can be designed to increase the potential for new and recent entrants to compete for land becoming available through the Lump Sum Exit Scheme. 

The amount of land we have is fixed. It is only by assisting people to exit the industry with dignity that we can help others fulfil their dream, and people at either end of this spectrum will ultimately be happier if more people manage to confront difficult decisions.

Those of us who grew up with farming know that families face these dilemmas all the time, but that too often they are ducked rather than confronted. I hope that the approach we are setting out will make these decisions easier.