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Mr Eustice said:

"We have a great track record in countryside stewardship schemes and we want to build on what has been started. The new scheme will prioritise promoting biodiversity and will be tailored to fit local needs. It will be more targeted so we can deliver wildlife corridors but there will also be grants available to all farmers".

From 2016, the new environmental land management scheme will be targeted so that farmers can help deliver environmental priorities specifically related to their local area, focussing particularly on increasing biodiversity, helping wildlife and improving water quality. For example, if one area is home to rare farmland birds, farmers will be reimbursed for enhancing this habitat. If, in another area, agricultural pollution has affected local rivers, farmers will be able to apply for funding to reduce soil erosion and run-off from their fields.

The existing Environmental Stewardship and England Woodland Grant Scheme will be brought together into a universal scheme that will be open to applications from both farmers and foresters.

During EU negotiations on the Common Agricultural Policy, the UK pressed for each country to have the option to channel a greater proportion of CAP funding into delivering environmental benefits. As a result, £3.1billion of funding will be available for environmental schemes in England which is a higher proportion of the CAP budget than ever before.

Plans for England’s implementation of the EU’s Young Farmers Scheme to give extra support to farmers under forty years of age were also set out today. Defra has announced the intention to apply this support to the maximum land area of farms. Young farmers will be able to claim a top-up payment for up to ninety hectares of their holding for the first five years of its operation.

The work of farmers and land managers through existing agri-environment schemes has created habitats for rare farmland birds and pollinators and boosted rural tourism by improving the natural environment. Since 2005, they have:

• managed 41% of English hedgerows, providing shelter and food for wildlife
• restored or newly planted 30,000 kilometres of hedgerows
• helped pollinators by sowing wildflowers in arable field margins
• helped increase breeding populations of nationally scarce farmland birds including the cirl bunting (increased by 600% since 1989) and stone curlew

Nearly 52,000 farmers and other land managers have signed up for the schemes, covering over 6.4 million hectares - or 70% of farmland in England.

Announcing details of the new environmental land management scheme, which aims to support farmers who wish to help wildlife, improve water quality and create woodland, Mr Eustice said, "The new scheme will prioritise promoting biodiversity and will be tailored to fit local needs. It will be more targeted so we can deliver wildlife corridors but there will also be grants available to all farmers.”

The new scheme will be introduced in 2016. Biodiversity benefits will be locally targeted, so farmers deliver environmental priorities specifically related to their local area. On Wednesday, Defra gave some examples; if one area is home to rare farmland birds, farmers will be reimbursed for enhancing their habitat. If, in another area, agricultural pollution has affected local rivers, farmers will be able to apply for funding to reduce soil erosion and run-off from their fields, boosting water quality.

Defra said these changes mean that existing Environmental Stewardship and England Woodland Grant Schemes will be brought together into a universal scheme that will be open to applications from both farmers and foresters.

On Wednesday, Mr Eustice added that, in light of modulation (the ability to transfer funds between the direct payments and rural development pillars of a state's CAP allocation), which the UK pushed for in EU negotiations, £3.1billion will be available for funding the new environmental schemes in England alone.

Eustice said this is a higher proportion of the CAP budget than ever before. However, modulation has been extremely controversial. The NFU opposed the process because they argued that loss of direct funding would put UK farmers at a competitive disadvantage to their Euopean counterparts. On the other hand, greens added that, to date, only two member states have expressed a desire to transfer money from farm subsidies to conservation work and many more states are likely to shift funds in the opposite direction.

In his announcement, the farming minister did not explicitly state how much funding would be transferred between the two CAP pillars, though it is expected that this will fall short of 15 percent, the maximum allowed, and the figure initially proposed by Defra ministers.

Young farmers scheme

Plans for England’s implementation of the EU’s Young Farmers Scheme to give extra support to farmers under forty years of age were also set out by Defra ministers. Defra has announced the intention to apply this support to the maximum land area of farms. Young farmers will be able to claim a top-up payment for up to ninety hectares of their holding for the first five years of its operation.

Jenna Hegarty, a member of RSPB's Agricultural Policy Team told Farming Online on Wednesday that, although there "isn't much new information in today's announcement that wasn't revealed in December," the charity is mostly optimistic about the policy announcements.

Hegarty said RSPB is particularly glad that Defra's agri-environment schemes under the reformed CAP will focus on halting diversity declines, which voluntary and market-based initiatives have failed to address. The RSPB spokesperson added "we are glad Defra now appears to be taking an evidence-based, science based approach."