News
Hugh Townsend has for 25 years been the country's "go-to" commentator on farm quotas and rural surveying issues affecting farmers. Having become the country's leading and most innovative quota agent he was broadcast to 3.8 million listeners on Radio 4's PM programme interviewed by Eddie Mayer on the 1st April 2015 – the Dawning of Europe without Milk Quotas, click here. More recently BBC1 interviewed Hugh Townsend on the future of farming following the Referendum, click here.
Hugh Townsend has over the years developed the most creative arrangements to promote an efficient market in farm quotas, in the early eighties developing leasing milk quota without land before the Milk Marketing Board introduced leasing for a part of the milk year.
He represented clients in leading legal cases defending transfers of milk quota and developed the new system of second TQ1 forms protecting the transfer of quotas with land.
In 1991, with Farmers Weekly he produced the first sale price index countrywide and started to publish farm quota sales and leasing graphs which are still published by Farmers Weekly and other publications and can be seen on our Milk Quota & Entitlements pages.
On BBC television he has defended dairy farmers who have been taken advantage of by unscrupulous inpiduals in the farm quota market and was again on television to comment on the "footballers buy milk quota" rumpus.
He regularly writes for Farmers Guardian and the South West's Western Morning News and our experienced team is sought after for their comments on farm quotas.
Western Morning News – 11.04.18 – Entitlements – Some tricks of the trade
“Internal entitlement transfers” between clients of the same firm of farm consultants/agents Farm consultants and agents are starting to complete their clients’ claims and may wish to trade entitlements between their clients. They adopt different policies as to how to deal with this on behalf of clients, but some will do “internal transfers” between the…
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Farmers Weekly comment – 02.03.18 – BPS entitlement values and Active Farmer test
See article on BPS entitlement values down £30/ha on 2016 – here See article on Active farmer test dropped for 2018 – here
Read More Western Morning News – 04.04.18 – The ‘Active Farmer’ Rule Changes
REGIONAL UPDATE The 2017 Omnibus Regulations have now taken effect, resulting in significant changes to the ‘Active Farmer’ regulations, and the way Great British and Northern Irish farmers qualify for the Basic Payment Scheme. The Active Farmer requirement of the Basic Payment Scheme is one of the features of the CAP that has caused the…
Read More Western Morning News – 28.03.18 – English Entitlements – Trading Update
March is traditionally the month where farmers/landowners and their agents start to turn their minds to their BPS claims and to seriously assess what entitlements are needed in order to fully maximise their payment, and trade is beginning to pick up. With the online BPS claim forms now live on the RPA online website, it…
Read More2018 BPS AND ENTITLEMENT TRADING UPDATE – 15th MARCH 2018
ENGLISH ENTITLEMENTS – TRADING UPDATE March is traditionally the month where farmers/landowners and their agents start to turn their minds to their BPS claims and to seriously assess what entitlements are needed in order to fully maximise their payment, and trade is beginning to pick up. With the online BPS claim forms now live on…
Read MoreBPS SCHEME 2018 – ACTIVE FARMER REQUIREMENT DROPPED – 20.2.18
Under the Omnibus Regulation all EU member states have the ability to drop the Active Farmer rule for the Basic Payment Scheme from 2018 onwards. The RPA has today confirmed that England has now dropped the Active Farmer rule for BPS this year. This removes a claimant’s need for the readmission routes or having to…
Read More Western Morning News – 07.02.18 – Countryside Stewardship Scheme – New Wildlife Offers
Since 2015 landowners who wished to carry out environmental stewardship have had to apply for competitive agreements (i.e. limited funding available and only applicants that best met the priorities would be granted agreements) mainly through the Mid Tier Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) which replaced the Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme. The ELS scheme was non-competitive…
Read MoreUK BPS Entitlement Trading Update – 6.2.2018
ENGLAND As we move into February, with just over three months left before the 2018 BPS claim deadline and following the RPA online system now showing maps and allowing entitlement transfer applications, entitlement trading is starting to warm up as landowners/farmers start to add up their eligible areas, and calculate what surplus/shortfall in entitlements they…
Read More Western Morning News – 17.01.2018 – Telecoms – New Digital Economy Act
The Digital Economy Act came into force from the 28th December 2017 and although the Act deals with a wide and varying number of differing matters, the main point of interest to most landowners and land agents is its effect on new telecom mast leases. Existing telecommunication agreements are not affected by the amendments, however…
Read More Western Morning News – 10.01.18 – Commons Update
Following the successful legal challenge on the way Minchinhampton and Rodborough Commons claim payments were handled by the RPA, commons claimants can and have submitted claims to the RPA for an allocation of extra entitlements and retrospective top-up payments for these entitlements. This affects all common land claimants in England, except (currently) for those in…
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