Countryside scheme which is worth a second look
Farmers should take a second look at the mid-tier Countryside Stewardship Scheme, as it offers potential to secure significantly higher payments than were available under the old Entry Level Stewardship scheme.
Farmers and land managers can make the mid-tier scheme work for their businesses economically and practically, despite problems associated with the scheme’s design and delivery over the past couple of years.
Mid-tier application packs had to be requested by July 31, with the deadline for applications being September 30.
Farmers need to be open minded about the scheme, despite well-publicised issues surrounding its introduction.
The scheme has not had the easiest of starts, with delays in getting agreements in place and in the delivery of payments hitting the headlines.
However, while CSS is more complex than previous stewardship schemes, farmers should not rule it out without considering how it might benefit their business.
The scheme is, of course, designed to bring environmental improvements, but some of the options can offer surprisingly high levels of funding, with the annual payments a valuable income stream to a farm business.
Applications can also be put together that use options which will bring management benefits, such as helping farmers to achieve cultural control of blackgrass.
Some ELS options such as the farm environment record and ditch management were not available under CSS.
However, other ELS options such as buffer strips could be augmented under CSS to become flower-rich margins which would secure a higher level of payment.
Under additional CSS options, winter bird food (AB9) can then be coupled together with supplementary winter feeding (AB12) for farmland birds and this may well have synergies if there is a shoot on the land.
A two-year sown legume fallow (AB15) is also an effective option where are there are challenges with growing break crops as well as controlling blackgrass.
One business I have been working with, that had received £16,000 per year in ELS revenue, is hoping to boost this to £22,600/year under CSS by adding in the additional options.
ELS revenue was a whole-farm payment of £30/ha/yr and CSS options are different in so far as they are individually remunerated.
However, if we divide the projected CSS revenue by the whole farm area, this works out at £41/ha/yr which is 38 per cent higher than the £30/ha/yr payment offered through ELS.
I have seen other examples where the whole-farm equivalent value of CSS is far higher than £41/ha.
Matthew Martin is associate farming consultant in the Shrewsbury office of Strutt & Parker
