2 Husbandry and estate management: statutory standards
6.19 The common law imposes minimal obligations as to cultivation on farm tenants, including a duty to farm according to the custom of the country in a good and husbandlike manner.
These are considered in Chapter 3. Reflecting the post war policy emphasis, which was on producing food as efficiently and cheaply as possible, the Agriculture Act 1947 introduced statutory standards of good husbandry and estate management. These reflected the agricultural imperative, and emphasised the need to maintain optimum levels of agricultural production on tenanted holdings. Priorities have since changed, and the emphasis now is on environmental protection and the reduction of surpluses generated within the Common Agricultural Policy. Accordingly, the rules of good husbandry and estate management do not apply to farm business tenancies under the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995, unless incorporated by agreement into the tenancy.28 They remain highly relevant, however, to tenancies governed by the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986.(a)Relevance of Statutory Standards of Cultivation/Management
6.20 Sections 10 and 11 of the Agriculture Act 1947 lay down statutory standards of ‘Good Husbandry’ and ‘Good Estate Management’. The sanctions for breach of the 1947 Act were repealed by the Agriculture Act 1958.29 The rules of good estate management are consequently unenforceable by a tenant, unless incorporated by agreement into the tenancy itself. The rules of good husbandry, however, are of considerable importance and remain enforceable against a tenant by both direct and indirect means:
(i)The rules of good husbandry are directly enforceable in that breach of the 1947 Act standard gives the landlord a right to apply for a certificate of bad husbandry and invoke Case C in Sch 3 to the 1986 Act by serving notice to quit. The tenancy itself may incorporate the rules, thereby also making Case D available to remedy breach.
(ii)The rules have indirect relevance in that many of the statutory rights and duties of landlord and tenant are qualified by reference to them. So, for instance, in repossession proceedings under both Case D and Case E, the breach of tenancy complained of must be one that is not inconsistent with the tenant’s responsibilities to farm in accordance with the rules of good husbandry.30 Similarly, in order to compel the provision of fixed equipment by the landlord, a tenant must satisfy the agricultural land tribunal that this is reasonable having regard to his responsibilities to farm according to the rules of good husbandry.31 And, even if the Cases for Possession in Sch 3 are not relied on, a tribunal can consent to the operation of a notice to quit if termination of the tenancy is in the interests of good husbandry.32
6.21 It might be added that, although not directly enforceable by a tenant per se, the landlord can rely on the statutory standards of Good Estate Management to seek tribunal consent to a notice to quit.33
(b)‘Good Estate Management’
6.22 The rules of good estate management require management to be such as to be reasonably adequate, having regard to the character and situation of the land and other relevant circumstances, to enable an occupier reasonably skilled in husbandry to maintain efficient production as regards both the kind of produce and the quantity and quality of produce.34 The landlord must provide such fixed equipment as is necessary to enable a reasonably skilled occupier to maintain efficient production. The rules also require that the landlord carry out his legal obligations with regard to maintenance and repair of such equipment once provided. The landlord’s obligations in this respect will be governed by the tenancy agreement or the ‘model clauses’ set out entire in the Agriculture (Maintenance, Repair and Insurance of Fixed Equipment) Regulations 1973 or 2015.35
(c)‘Good husbandry’
6.23 A tenant will be fulfilling his duty to farm in accordance with the rules of good husbandry if he is maintaining a reasonable standard of efficient production, having regard to the character and situation of the holding, the standard of management by the owner and ‘other relevant circumstances’.36 He must, moreover, keep the holding in a condition to enable such a standard to be maintained in the future.
In this respect the duty imposed by section 11 is more onerous than the tenant’s common law duty, for at common law the tenant is under no duty to leave the land in good heart and condition, eg where it was in poor condition when he took the tenancy.37 Section 11(2) sets out a number of factors to which regard must be had when considering whether the tenant is complying with the rules of good husbandry, viz:–Whether permanent pasture is being properly mown or grazed and maintained in a good state of cultivation and fertility;
–Arable land must be cropped in a way that maintains the land in a clean and good state of cultivation and fertility;
–if the farm is a livestock farm it must be properly stocked and an efficient standard of management of livestock maintained;
–steps must be taken to keep crops and livestock free from disease and infestation by pests and insects;
– harvested and lifted crops must be adequately protected;
– ‘necessary’ work of maintenance must be carried out, where the obligation to do so is the tenant’s.