Farming publications and the airwaves at a-quarter-to-six in the morning have lately been reverberating to the sound of the debate over how much should be taken away from the English Pillar One payments and transferred to Pillar Two, the environment.DEFRA Secretary Owen Patterson was understood to intend making the maximum modulation to direct payments -15 per cent - from 2014. The NFU claimed that Patterson had pledged to 'reviewproposals to transfer the maximum 15 per cent from direct support to rural development schemes' and that he would only go ahead with 15 per cent if it could be demonstrated that it would deliver 'worthwhile and valuable outcomes'. In the event, the rate of modulation for England was set at 12 per cent for the first four years after 2014. In Wales, however, the Welsh Assembly Government opted for a rate of 15% whereas, in Scotland, there will be a 9.5% rate. In Northern Ireland, the rate will be 7%. Roger Dean has been examining the role played by direct payments in farm business incomes in the constituent parts of the UK and the impact it has on the feed industry's livestock customers.
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