Originally published in Agricultural Bulletin, 2007
The four devolved governments have announced their VM rates for 2007 and are all lower than forecast.
The UK’s devolved regions have announced their voluntary modulation (VM) rates. The Welsh, surprisingly, have come in with the lowest rates and, in a further twist, the levels of deductions that were previously fixed in Northern Ireland have been reduced by the new power-sharing executive.
All four administrations have opted for lower rates than expected. This will please farmers, but will reduce additional Government funding for rural areas via the match funding of modulation.
These VM rates are in addition to the 5% compulsory modulation imposed on all EU farmers. EU modulation has a €5,000 exemption, and deductions are not levied below this level. However, all the UK regions have chosen to impose their VM rate across the whole Single Payment.
