Streamlined scheme a welcome New Year's gift for farmers
Without doubt the Countryside Stewardship Scheme has had its detractors - blasted by some for delays in payments and lambasted by others for its complexity and lengthy paperwork.
It’s a scheme worth applying for, but in too many cases, farmers and landowners have had to weigh up the rewards against the time needed to apply.
So, news that come the New Year, four new offers will be open to farmers, with the promise of a much more straightforward and faster application process, must surely be welcomed.
The government’s website suggests that ‘significant improvements have been made to the scheme to make it simpler and easier for farmers and land managers to apply’ and on initial examination the promise of shorter application forms and streamlined evidence checks sounds encouraging.
The nature of the scheme is changing too. The four new offers will be of a non-competitive nature, meaning that all farmers who meet the eligibility requirements can get an agreement to deliver as few as three options, or as many as seven up to 14, depending on the offer applied for.
The four new offers are the Online Arable Offer, Lowland Grazing Offer, Upland Offer and Mixed Farming Offer. Each has a number of tailored options for different farms so wherever and whatever type of land you are working, there’s the ability to deliver environmental benefits.
Good news for rural Shropshire and over the border into Herefordshire with its diverse landscape and farms to match.
The popular Hedgerows and Boundaries Grant also gets a revamp in 2018 with additional money available. The maximum grant available will increase from £5,000 to £10,000. The increase is aimed at ‘helping farmers get back into agri-environment schemes with options such as the popular nectar flower mix which many farmers delivered under the ELS schemes available to apply for in the new CS offers’.
The new Upland Offer gives farmers who were on HLS agreements to get into Mid Tier agreements.
The new offers complement the existing Higher Tier and Mid Tier offer which has been enhanced and will continue to be available, assisting agreements around elements such as water quality, wet grassland, organics and traditional orchards.
More details plus scheme handbooks will be available in the New Year as will details on application deadlines.
Jenny Layton Mills, Partner, Rural Professional Team, McCartneys in Knighton
