Industry experts have warned Defras plan to offer English farmers an advance on their direct payments to help with soaring input costs is merely a sticking plaster.
The department has announced it intended to send cash to farmers in two instalments to boost cashflow, with the first payment to be made from the end of July and the second from December.The arrangement will remain in place for the remainder of the agricultural transition period.
Defra Secretary George Eustice said the advance would provide some confidence to an industry buckling under the weight of inflationary pressures.
But Andrew Robinson, head of agriculture at Armstrong Watson accountants, said the move was a short-term fix and had no impact on margins or the cost of producing a litre of milk.
It just puts cash in the bank short-term. In December, you will get the other half and you will be back to where you would have been. It is just a sticking plaster.
He also said it was odd the Governments first response was to pay direct support a little earlier, while at the same time Ministers were preparing to abolish it.
