Assessment of single farm payment on graziers in UK & Ireland
The CCRI, in partnership with the Foundation for Common Land, was commissioned by the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism (EFNCP) to assess the impact of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) in England on the active graziers of common land. The SPS is an area-based direct payment for income support under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Over the past few years there has been anecdotal evidence that this system is having unintended negative impacts on the grazing of common land in England. The project used existing data and a series of workshops to assess the basis for these claims, in order to highlight areas for further investigation so that future area-based schemes can take this into account. Under the European Commission’s current proposals for reform of the CAP in 2013, area-based payments are favoured as the main element of future support.
Chris Short led the research, with input from Peter Gaskell and colleagues from the Foundation for Common Land. The research began in October 2010 and reported to EFNCP in March 2011.
