The Landworkers’ Alliance is a union of farmers, growers, foresters and land-based workers.

Feedback for us

If you have any comments, critiques, considerations, compliments, complaints, about anything the Landworkers Alliance is or isn’t up to, do let us know your thought. We love feedback, it keeps a system healthy. Please fill in this quick form.

Membership / Supporter / Donation Queries

Please contact Lauren.Simpson@landworkersalliance.org.uk

Requests for work, volunteering or internships

We are currently not recruiting for any roles but please read our newsletters for any announcements. We currently do not offer any volunteer or internship placements directly with the LWA, but keep an eye out in the newsletter or on the forum for any members looking for volunteers or workers.

Academic/Research Enquiries

Please look at the Agroecology Research Collaboration to see if it fits your area of research/work.

Membership Support / Advice

Currently the LWA does not have capacity or resources to help individual members or potential members on their specific projects, farms or programmes. We get a lot of requests for individual support and would love to have the time to respond to each request in full. We are fundraising for a new role for somebody to focus on membership support and services as we have identified it is a gap in our offering so please watch this space. Having said that, if your query is critical and urgent please email info@landworkersalliance.org.uk including the word URGENT in the subject header and it will get picked up and we can try our best to help.

Contacting Individual Staff

Please take the time to explore our staff page here to see who the most relevant contact for your enquiry is.

Our addresses format is firstname.lastname@landworkersalliance.org.uk

Please bear in mind we all work part time and have limited capacity to respond to enquiries outside our core areas of work.

You can also find information under the About Us header about branch and regional organising, and identity groups within the LWA membership.

Press/Media Enquiries:

For any queries relating to press please email press@landworkersalliance.org.uk

Merchandise/calendar Enquiries

For any enquiries to do with shop sales including the calendar please email merchandise@landworkersalliance.org.uk

To Include an Item in Our Newsletter:

You can fill in this quick form to submit it to be included in the next bulletin/newsletter. The deadline to submit is the end of Friday each week for the following week’s member bulletin. With the same form you can also submit to the monthly non-member newsletter which goes out in the first week of the month.

All Other Enquiries:

For any other enquiries that are URGENT please email info@landworkersalliance.org.uk with the word ‘urgent’ in the subject header and we will do our best to help.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Lump Sum and Delinked Payments

(2021-ongoing)

In March, Defra released a consultation on the two new proposed schemes that are intended to replace the current Direct Payment scheme – we want to make sure they link with New Entrant support.

The phasing out of Direct Payments is likely to cause some restructuring of the farming sector in England. In order to help ‘unproductive’ or retiring farmers to leave the sector, Defra are considering two new payment schemes: Delinking and Lump Sum. These schemes will replace Direct Payments and support farmers if and when they decide to leave the farming sector.

‘Delinked Payments’ explained

Defra intends to ‘delink’ Direct Payments from farming the land, regardless of whether a recipient decides to continue farming or not. At present, it is expected that delinking payments could be used by farmers to invest in productivity, expand their business, or retire from farming. The retirement option may present opportunities for new entrants in accessing newly available land and ongoing channels of support. This needs to be aligned with meeting best environmental land management practice.

‘Lump Sum’ explained

Defra is also looking at the possibility of running a one-off exit scheme. This would allow a farmer to receive a lump sum payment if they chose to sell their land, stop farming and rent the land, or end their tenancy. This payment would be offered in place of continued receipt of Direct Payments. The land and recommended support channels made available through lump sum has the potential to increase business success and sustainability for new farming entrants. This needs to be aligned with meeting best environmental land management practice.

What’s the Issue?

These payments may come with conditions such as selling or renting the land, which could provide opportunities for new entrants as well as land-based social enterprises. These schemes should link with the Government’s New Entrants Support Scheme to create co-benefits and positive outcomes. However, Without a robust mechanism or set of criteria, any new land will be consolidated under existing large landowners who have the capital and resources to out compete new entrants and land-based social enterprises.

What are we doing?

The Landworkers’ Alliance released a response to Defra’s consultation, calling for:

1) A clear set of criteria with a robust mechanism must be integrated into the scheme to ensure that any land made newly available under Delinking or Lump Sum is prioritised for new entrants and land-based social enterprise.

2) Whilst delinking payments from the land is the objective, conditions need to be built into both schemes so that farmland is not environmentally degraded or damaged.

3) Any land prioritised for new entrants should be linked to the New Entrant Support Scheme and have clear channels of support attached. These should cover access to finance, markets, training and mentorship, as well as the opportunity to purchase or co-use farm machinery in land transference.

How can you help?

This consultation is now closed.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Additional Resources

Consultation Response (and Stock Answers) from Landworkers' Alliance and Sustain

Farmers Weekly: Lump sum payments of up to £100,000 revealed by Defra