Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how her Department defines the term active farmer for the purposes of applications for basic farm payments under the reformed CAP; and if she will make a statement.

The active farmer test is set out in the European Regulations, but aspects remain to be interpreted by Member States. Farmers who operate certain non-agricultural activities, comprising waterworks, railway services, airports, real estate services, or permanent sport and recreational grounds, will be ineligible for direct payments unless they meet the ‘readmission criteria’ or received less than €5,000 in direct payments in the previous year.

A business will be readmitted if it: provides evidence that its annual amount of direct payments is at least 5% of the total receipts that it obtained from non-agricultural activities; has an eligible area of at least 36 ha (the median average size of a farm in England); or provides evidence that its agricultural receipts are at least 40% of its total receipts.

We believe the active farmer test risks discouraging farm diversification and may lead to needless restructuring, while offering no benefit to tenants or others who make their living from farming. It is also a burden on both applicants and administrators. We will be arguing in future reform negotiations that the test be optional for the Member State.