ELM & Commercial Opportunities
17TH JUNE ’21
The switch to the Environmental Land Management Scheme could be hard for many businesses receiving CAP payments, particularly smaller farms which may not have land available to qualify for payments under the new scheme. However, investing in ELM-qualifying features to maximise revenue for public goods can have a secondary benefit. Some of these investments can also be put to commercial use to improve the RoI and increase diversification. We investigate the role of farmers and land managers as custodians of the environment, the ELM schemes and how to make the transition to more environmentaly-friendly methods work for farm businesses of every size.
Luke Pollard MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs
Luke was first elected as the Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport in June 2017. Luke has served many roles on Labour’s Shadow Environment Team, as PPS to former Shadow Environment Secretary Sue Hayman, and as the Shadow Minister for Fishing, Water, Coastal Communities. He was promoted to Shadow Environment Secretary himself in January 2020. Luke is an energetic fighter within Westminster for fishing and farming across the country.
Susan Twining
Chief Land Use Policy Advisor, CLA
Susan Twining leads the CLA Land Use team based in London. The team covers policy issues and advice related to agriculture, forestry and woodland, and the environment. This includes issues such as future agriculture policy, natural capital and carbon markets. Prior to joining the CLA in 2017, Susan was an associate director of the sustainable food and farming consultancy business at ADAS, with broad experience in practical farming, agronomy advice, research and policy. Susan grew up on a beef and sheep farm in Scotland.
Sarah Dodds
Head of Agriculture and Partner, MHA MacIntyre Hudson
Sarah’s strength lies in helping ambitious, owner-managers to reach their goals. Her clients not only benefit from the emphasis she puts on having the right management information upon which to base decisions but her ability to summarise their position and make timely and appropriate recommendations. The commercial world plays a major role in Sarah’s life but being married to a farmer and living on a mixed farm, has afforded her the opportunity to understand and appreciate the agricultural sector at first hand. As head of the firm’s Agriculture & Rural Business sector, Sarah has brought her considerable personal agricultural knowledge to this sector, enabling her to develop an insight into farming & agricultural businesses not usually available to other accountancy professionals.