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Please note these dates for county events coming up during the autumn:

20 September: Isle of Wight Ploughing Match, Appleford

2 November at 6.30pm: Alton & Petersfield Branch AGM, venue TBC

15 October at 6.30pm: Winchester Branch AGM

23 October at 6.30pm: Wickham Branch AGM

18 November at 7pm: IOW County AOM at Harvey Browns

6 January 2026 at 7pm: Hampshire County AOM, speaker Rachel Hallos, NFU Vice-president. South Winchester Golf Club.

Very recently, certain parts of Hampshire have been plagued by a large volume of break ins with a lot of thefts occurring, or attempted burglaries. I am very aware of the alarm and distress this can cause and the ongoing impacts afterwards.

I urge you all to always report crimes in progress on 999 or to report suspicious activity call 101 or use DISC. DISC isn’t monitored 24/7 so please log live incidents via 101 or 999.

The police have their ongoing resourcing challenges but remain committed to helping rural communities. If you have been a victim of crime or feel let down, please contact me directly, I have strong contacts with police including the assistant chief constable who leads on rural crime.

Our next rural engagement forum with the police and crime commissioner is in late October so I can also raise concerns you have there.

We are receiving many queries about the ongoing drought/dry weather and how it’s affecting those participating in environmental schemes. Given the current conditions, I wanted to share some key information with you.

Members who are struggling with grass and forage availability may have fields on farm with available forage, which are under environmental scheme restrictions (e.g. fallow fields), meaning they cannot be grazed or cut because doing so would breach the scheme’s payment conditions.

There are also cases where you may be unable to meet scheme requirements due to the dry conditions — for example, being unable to drill a bird mix.

»Ê¼Ò»ªÈËhas been raising this issue weekly with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), which has acknowledged the problem and is willing to consider individual circumstances on a case-by-case basis. 

What you need to do:

Contact the RPA directly. The process differs depending on the scheme: 

Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI):

• Complete the and either: Post to: Rural Payments Agency, PO Box 324, Worksop, S95 1DF. Or email to: [email protected]

Countryside Stewardship / Higher Level Stewardship (CS/HLS): 

• Complete the  and email a scanned/saved copy to: [email protected]

Include ‘Adjustment request’ and either ‘Environmental Stewardship’ (or ‘ES’) or ‘Countryside Stewardship’ (or ‘CS’) in the subject line. Or post to: Rural Payments Agency, PO Box 324, Worksop, S95 1DF.

For multiple agreements, the RPA must be notified separately for each affected scheme.

Important: If a derogation is approved, you will lose environmental payments for that year for the affected area of the scheme.

For example, grazing a 10ha field under the action AB15: Two-year sown legume fallow (which pays £593/ha), would forfeit £5,930 in payments for that area in the current scheme year.

For more information, see the NFU Dry Weather page:

Hampshire is a county known for its beauty and chalk streams, so the Big Chalk Recovery Fund, recently launched by the National Landscapes Association will be an interesting project.

The fund will grant up to £75,000 on projects that help restore and reconnect the chalk and limestone landscapes of southern England. The fund aims to support up to 10 projects at this scale — but smaller proposals are welcomed and may consider larger grants where the impact is clear. All funding must be spent by March 2026.

From rivers to ridgelines, farmland to nature reserves, the fund is backing work that helps nature recover, strengthens habitat networks, and helps these iconic places thrive for people and wildlife across the Big Chalk geography — both within and beyond protected landscapes.