North Suffolk farmer warns latest plans to support the industry "won't be for everyone"
This new scheme will see local farms be paid for being more environmentally friendly
A North Suffolk farmer has warned that the Government's latest plans to support the industry "won't be for everyone".
This new scheme will see local farms be paid for being more environmentally friendly- by doing things like planting wildflowers.
This replaces the EU-equivalent that subsidised businesses based on the amount of land they farmed.
"The big challenge is understanding what we have to do"
Andrew Blenkiron farms in Euston, near Thetford.
He says this has all prompted a mixed reaction locally:
"Some won't regard the payments as satisfactory to displace food or energy production. But I would say that it's been made attractive enough to have a good in-depth detailed look at.
"People have been incredibly frustrated by the lack of detail or ability to put plans in place. Those people who have been forward thinking have taken the opportunity as they have come along.
"There were certainly parts of the Sustainable Farming Incentive that have been announced last year and many have taken that on board.
"As with all of these schemes, the big challenge is understanding what we have to do to attract payments and what cost is associated with it.
"There are some options that are going to cost us a lot of money to engage with. It will be a personal decision as to whether somebody decides to take it forwards."