Preparing for 2025 and Beyond
In the last month or two SAC Consulting has been busy delivering subscriber meetings and a series of Scottish Government funded Scotland's Farm Advisory Service events in person and online to offer clear information and advice on preparing for the new Whole Farm Plan and future changes in agricultural support. While it has been super to see and speak to so many folk, it has also been sobering to see the extent of worry and concern about the changes, especially among smaller businesses.
However, one of the most positive, recurring pieces of feedback we have had across the country is that once people have got clear information and begin to look at how to prepare for 2025 and the new Whole Farm Plan (WFP), it’s much less overwhelming than it may first appear.
With that in mind, read on for a summary of the forthcoming changes. While the schemes you are eligible for will not change in 2025, there are additional things you will have to do to access support for next year and although there will be no penalties this year for non-compliance, you will need to have all applicable elements of the Whole Farm Plan in place by 2028 and some of the requirements are likely to gradually build over time, so it would be as well to make a start sooner rather than later.
From 2025, the new Whole Farm Plan will be gradually phased in for agricultural businesses of all shapes and sizes. If you submit an Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) claim, whether you have an estate, a large farm, a small one, a croft, or anything in between, you need to begin working towards completing it.
The Whole Farm Plan is not a single plan but collection of five plans and audits in total:
- Biodiversity Audit
- Carbon Audit
- Soil Analysis
- Animal Health & Welfare Plan
- Integrated Pest Management Plan
You must complete at least two out of five elements before submitting your annual Single Application Form (SAF) in 2025.
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. Not all parts of the whole farm plan may be relevant to you, so the first thing to do would be to consider carefully which ones you will have to do, and which are either not relevant or not obligatory.
By 2028, everyone will have to have completed a biodiversity audit and a carbon audit, and these will both need to be reviewed once every five years. You can self-complete both, as long as they meet minimum standards. There are a variety of online tools available to do so though, of course, your SAC Consulting advisor will also be able to support you.
Soil sampling will need to be carried out by everyone who spreads or intends to spread organic or inorganic fertiliser on region one land. By 2028, you will need to have sampled all the region one land where you are spreading fertiliser. Each parcel will need to have been sampled at least once in the previous five years and analysis should be reviewed on a five-year cycle. Those who do not fertilise or who are fertilising region 2 land, are not required to soil sample, though of course you may well wish to anyway, to assess fertiliser and/or lime requirements.
The Animal Health and Welfare plan is relevant only for livestock keepers and should be reviewed annually. The plan does not need to be signed off by a vet but does require you to have evidence of veterinary support provided to your business, e.g. an annual visit for routine checks (such as those available under the Preparing for Sustainable Farming (PSF) scheme), or to assign a Veterinary Attestation Number (VAN). If you are part of a quality assurance scheme you may well have a plan in place already.
Finally, an Integrated Pest Management Plan should be completed by everyone who uses weed control and/or plant protection products. This will also need to be reviewed annually and must be completed only if your business uses chemical treatments for weed control or plant protection, or you intend to do so. Again, you can complete this yourself and there is a free online template for it.
You will be required to progressively phase in all the parts of the WFP that are relevant to your business by 2028. Therefore, it is important to think ahead and make a plan for achieving full compliance by 2028.
Which plans and audits you select to do first may depend on your business type, activity levels, or what you can complete quickly and easily yourself. Alternatively, you may decide to plan your work for the full implementation of the WFP on the basis of the funding support currently available for parts of it. The PSF scheme currently offers relevant financial support with carbon audits and soil analysis (though the latter is dependent on having a carbon audit done too) and there is a variety of support available through Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service as well.
Carbon audits, biodiversity plans and soil analysis all 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.
From 2025, there will also be new conditions for the Scottish Suckler Beef 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 not a herd average. You will be able to claim for all eligible calves. In time, the target interval may be reduced but never by more than 10 days in a single year and we already know that the target interval for both 2025 and 2026 will be 410 days.
There will also be some new GAEC 6 standards to meet regarding peatlands and wetlands. These will not impact you support claim, as such, but may be used to influence and guide any land maintenance or improvement work you have undertaken.
If you are still not sure where to start, a chat with your SAC Consulting advisor to discuss what would suit your business best, is as good a place as any. Your local advisor will also be able to signpost you to locally relevant information, resources and any funding support available.
Top Tips:
- Speak to your SAC Consulting advisor and find out which parts of the Whole Farm Plan affect you and check if you have any of them in place already – through your standard business practice, supply contracts, or through membership of QA schemes, any Agri environmental work you are doing, etc.
- Be aware that you can complete many of the elements of your Whole Farm Plan yourself so check the minimum requirements and assess if you can do some of the work yourself or within your business or family to keep costs down. This is a good opportunity to assess the skills you have present within your business and potentially look at bringing the next generation into the business in a more active role.
- Check what funding and support is available to you and make use of it if you can. Double check that any work done under a funded scheme will be compliant with Whole Farm Plan requirements.
- Make a plan for your business for 2025 but also look now at how and when you intend to complete other steps necessary in good time.
- Don’t panic and try to get everything done for 2025 though! You don’t want to have everything coming round for review at the same time and create a glut of work all in one go for yourself. Slow and steady wins the race!
- Check any elements you already have in place for compliance and make a note of when they were completed and note down when you think you will next have to review them.
Osla Jamwal-Fraser, Agricultural Consultant, Osla.Jamwalfraser@sac.co.uk
Unearthed is the exclusive SAC Consulting members' monthly newsletter. Unearthed offers insights and tips from our experts on what we think is in store for farming and crofting in the coming months in order to protect and enhance your business.
Posted by Unearthed News on 18/11/2024
