A range of schemes offer ongoing and one-off financial support for farmers in England.
The Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), though being phased out between 2021 and 2027, still delivers a meaningful income to businesses. Contact us if you don’t have the time to do the paperwork yourself, or simply value the extra peace of mind that comes from knowing your claim has been handled by a team that successfully submits hundreds every year.
Countryside Stewardship (CS) agri-environment payments are an ever-more important income stream for farms and estates as the government moves towards a system of ‘public money for public goods’. CS is expected to be open to new applicants until 2023, with the final five-year mid- and higher-tier agreements starting in 2024.
A raft of new schemes are currently being developed and launched to aid the shift away from BPS under the government’s agricultural transition plan. These include:
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) was the first to be introduced under the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme. Farmers will be able to apply for some options under this in 2022. It will gradually expand until the full set of standards is available in 2025.
The Local Nature Recovery Strategy is still in development, but is expected to be rolled out from 2023 and will encourage collaboration between farmers.
The Landscape Recovery scheme (likely to be rolled out from 2024) will support landscape and ecosystem recovery through long-term, land-use change projects such as large-scale tree planting or salt-marsh restoration.
Meanwhile, the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund, billed as the successor to the Countryside Productivity Small Grant Scheme, offers grants between £2,000 and £25,000 for kit that improves efficiency and brings environmental benefits, such as direct drills, slurry application equipment and solar-powered electric fences.
The Farming Transformation Fund is designed to give sums between £35,000 and £500,000, initially for water management projects such as irrigation and reservoirs. However, it is due to be extended to encourage improved farm productivity and adding-value initiatives.
Supporting infrastructure and activities in National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) initiative, which will run from 2021-2024.
All these schemes have been designed under the government’s ‘public money for public goods’ philosophy, supporting such goals as clean water, thriving plants and wildlife, and mitigating the effects of climate change.
But while the array of new schemes (with their different rules and deadlines) brings possibilities to strengthen your business, it can also mean it’s time-consuming and confusing.
Our experts know which schemes are available at any point, when the application periods are – and can recommend the best options for you and your business.
At CLM, we have decades of experience combining conservation with commercial agriculture, delivering environmental projects that dovetail with your agricultural, diversification or sporting activities and help you build thriving, profitable businesses.
We can help with:
- Scheme selection
- Completion and submission of applications
- Habitat creation and management
- Compliance issues
- Inspection appeals
- Renewals
- Transferring and amending agreements
- Joint applications and ‘farmer cluster’ groups
- Changes in land occupancy
We are experts on:
- Basic Payment Scheme
- Countryside Stewardship
- Sustainable Farming Incentive
- Farming in Protected Landscapes programme
- Farming Equipment and Technology Fund
- Farming Transformation Fund
