The agricultural transition period in England means a seismic shift in agri-environmental policy, away from the legacy of the EU Common Agricultural Policy and towards a brave new English future focused on Environmental Land Management (ELM). So, one year into this seven-year transition period, where have we got to?

More money for Countryside Stewardship

At this year’s Oxford Farming Conference (OFC), Secretary of State George Eustice announced that Defra is increasing current and future payment rates for Countryside Stewardship (CS). On average, rates will be increased by 30 per cent. In reality, only some CS options will increase, some will remain the same and some may drop in 2023.

Existing agreement holders will be paid based on the new rates for options where the rate has increased. There is a clear drive from Defra to make CS as attractive as possible in order to encourage more land managers to put in applications. CS is intended to be the ‘bridge’ from the old to the new schemes.

Sustainable Farming Incentive: something for everyone?

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is the part of ELM that Defra has shared the most specific information on, it will pay for actions that relate to farming activities and create environmental benefit.

The types of action the SFI will fund include soil management plans, growing green cover crops over the winter, and establishing herbal leys. Currently, farmers can receive between £22 per hectare per year and £58 per hectare per year, depending on the level of SFI standard they choose.

The scheme will be open to all who are currently eligible for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). The first application window opens this year and payments will be made before the end of 2022.

Local Nature Recovery: a continuation of countryside stewardship

Local Nature Recovery (LNR) is the second element of ELM, and it is focused on paying for locally targeted actions to ‘make space for nature’ within the farmed landscape and the wider countryside.

LNR will be the ‘improved and more ambitious successor’ to the CS scheme. It will pay for things like habitat creation, species protection and woodland creation. Defra wants it to reward collaboration on nature recovery projects, but we don’t know how it intends to do that yet. The scheme will be available to all rural land managers by the end of 2024. Farmers are supposed to be able to sign up to both LNR and SFI, so long as it isn’t double funding the same activity. 

Landscape Recovery: large-scale ambitions

This is the most environmentally ambitious part of ELM and is intended to deliver long-term, large-scale ecosystem recovery projects. The scheme will be open to applications from sites of 500–5,000 hectares. Applications can be made by individual land managers as well as collaborative groups. Each project will have bespoke payment rates that are negotiated during project development.

Defra wants to pilot up to 15 Land Recovery projects between 2022 and 2024 which it hopes will deliver over 20,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat.

How is Defra doing?

At the OFC, George Eustice reminded the audience that the agricultural transition is an ‘evolution not a revolution’ and that he hoped he had ‘been able to articulate a clear path that we have towards our final destination’.

However, at the same time, a House of Commons committee report heavily criticised the ELM proposals for lacking detail, being based on ‘blind optimism’ and not fully quantifying the impact rural land use change will have on the UK’s food security. The proof will most likely be in the pudding.

Is it enough?

There has clearly been a lot of activity from Defra in the past year – this blog doesn’t even touch on the new productivity and capital grants schemes – but that does not necessarily make up for the BPS income reductions that farmers are now experiencing.

It is important to remember that ELM doesn’t offer a replacement for BPS. ELM is paying farmers for managing their land in new ways – unlike BPS, there will be costs involved. To make up for that lost income, the opportunities of emerging private markets are tempting, and it is good that Defra doesn’t want to ‘crowd out’ private finance. But how exactly it will make sure of this is less clear.

One thing is certain: there is a lot of new information for land managers to get to grips with. And that’s before we’ve even touched on the Environment Act and things like Biodiversity Net Gain and Local Nature Recovery Strategies. It can seem quite daunting, but our advice would be to think innovatively, positively and possibly even collaboratively in order to make the most of these new funding opportunities.

Further information

Contact  Molly Biddell 

Savills Rural