COUNTRYSIDE STEWARDSHIP AND FETF PAYMENTS

This week, the Rural Payments Agency have emailed farmers who have not yet received their Countryside Stewardship payment for 2024.  The email says that they will be issuing partial payments for some CS agreements from 11 February to help agreement holders with cashflow.  This will be 75% of the total with the remainder to be paid once the claim is checked with the aim of all claims being paid by 30^th June 2025.  However, some farmers are being emailed to say that it is not possible to pay this interim payment because of the need to check the claim further before they can approve payment.   As well as CS, we also understand that this message has been sent to those who submitted FETF grant claims, particularly those that were submitted close to the 10^th January deadline.