Industry News

Highlights from the Autumn 2023 statement

The headlines from the Chancellor’s Autumn 2023 statement include:

Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NICs) will be abolished and the main rate of Class 4 NICs will reduce from 9% to 8% from 6 April 2024.
Full Expensing for companies will be made permanent.
The R&D Expenditure Credit (RDEC) and SME schemes will be merged into a single scheme from 1 April 2024.
The qualifying period for Investment Zone and Freeport benefits will be doubled from five to ten years.
The main rate of Class 1 employee NICs will reduce from 12% to 10% from 6 January 2024

Read more in this update from Ellacotts.

Hear whether battery storage is worth considering and the questions to ask

Energy Now has organised a webinar on 29 November at 5.00pm entitled: Going beyond simple solar: how to optimise renewable energy on your farm. Jack Peck, Business Development Manager at Wattstor and David Stevenson owner and Managing Director of Mole Energy will aim to dispel a few myths and set out a clear route forward for the next phase of renewable energy in agriculture: battery energy storage.  Together they will cover the following points:

•  Retrofitting batteries to farms with existing solar & wind installations
•  Expanding your solar installation in the post FIT era
•  How to determine if your land / farm can benefit from battery storage
•  What is load shifting and why is it key to maximising returns from solar?
•  DC battery solutions – when grid constraints become a limiting factor

Register for the webinar on this link.

Sign up for flood alerts with the Environment Agency

The Environment Agency is urging people to check their risk of flooding and sign up for free flood alerts and warnings. The service will tell you:

• current flood warnings or alerts
• river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels
• your flood risk in the next 5 days

If you want to know if there’s surface water flooding (also known as ‘flash flooding’) in your area you will need to contact your local council.  Visit this page to learn more.

Electricity System Operator Demand Flexibility Service is set to return this winter

Ofgem has approved the return of the Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) – a tool that helped ensure security of supply last winter and saw over 1.6 million homes and businesses rewarded for adjusting their non-essential energy demand.  The DFS is expected to launch in early November and works by paying members for turning down their electricity use during times of peak demand on the electricity system.  There will be several test events so that customers can be sure they will have a chance to participate and earn rewards of up to £3 per kilowatt hour, depending on provider offerings.

Participants need to have a smart meter installed and must also check that their supplier is taking part in the scheme.  Read more here.

Save 35% on GWCT farmer membership

Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust is offering farmers a 35% discount on its membership fee, reducing the subscription to £51 annually or £4.25 monthly.    Benefits include:

Access to dozens of informative wildlife and land management courses as well as important educational material and legislation updates
Invites to a variety of exciting events taking place throughout the year
The chance to visit our pioneering Allerton Project Farm at Loddington for a guided tour
Free copies of Gamewise, our feature-packed magazine produced 3 times a year
Regular email updates containing all our latest news and research findings
You can join your local County Group and get directly involved
Optional daily email news alerts containing all the latest conservation news

Visit this page to read more and sign up.

How to count earthworms

Earthworms engineer the soil environment, help with carbon cycling, improve water infiltration and plant productivity, and are an important food source for native birds. They are also a biological indicator of soil health.  The best time to count earthworm populations is early in the spring, or after the soil has wetted up in the autumn. Counting earthworms when it is warm and after rain often provides the best population estimates. Avoid taking samples when the soil is very dry. Soil should have been wet for a few days prior to sampling. When assessing earthworm numbers, it is important to take more than one sample from within each field; 10 samples per field is ideal. Comparisons between cultivated parts of the field and margins can be useful.   Visit this page on the AHDB website for instructions on how to count your earthworms.