Updates to the Agricultural Transition Plan for farming support in England announced by Defra set out how the Government plans to enhance the suite of Environmental Land Management schemes during 2024.

Much of the detail will not be announced until the upgraded schemes are launched in the summer, but H&H Land & Estates Environment & Conservation Manager, David Morley, says there are already some key positives for farmers to look forward to:

• Payments will be increased by an average of 10% across Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) schemes. This applies to all existing agreement holders with effect from 1^st January 2024.
• 50 new actions qualifying for the schemes will be launched in the summer.
• SFI and Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship will effectively be combined, so farmers can make a single application for both schemes. (Higher Tier CS will remain a separate scheme.)
• The current duplication of options and actions between the two schemes will be removed.
• Existing SFI 2023 agreement holders will be able to take advantage of the new actions by either adding them to their existing agreement at the anniversary or making a separate application to run alongside their current SFI.
• Once the scheme is re-launched in the summer, it will operate under a rolling application window. There will no longer be tight deadlines by which applications have to be submitted and agreements will start on 1^st of the month after they have been processed.

These changes offer welcome new opportunities for farmers and their agents to raise extra income from the Government's farming support schemes. Defra are clearly trying to make the schemes simpler, more flexible and less prescriptive, which should encourage more farmers to apply. The rolling application window is especially welcome: it should mean more applications can be submitted than before and the Rural Payments Agency will be able to process them more efficiently.

The new moorland options are likely to be of interest to many farmers and commoners in northern England. "Low" grazing levels will pay between £20 and £66 per ha, depending on stocking density. If moorland is grazed with a certain proportion of cattle or ponies, this will attract an extra payment of up to £23 per ha. There will also be additional payments of up to £50 per ha to take livestock off moorland at certain times of the year to prevent potential damage to sensitive habitats. The current CS Higher Tier option remains at £55 per ha.

Also of interest to upland farmers will be the new action for maintenance of dry stone walls. Maintenance of walls has long been neglected by Countryside Stewardship, with the only grants available being to restore walls that were already in a poor state. While the payment rate of £27 per 100 metres is not especially high, it is certainly better than nothing and will help upland farmers maintain these vital features of the upland landscape.

There are new payments for access to farmland, which has not been available since 2015. Open access will attract a payment of £92 per ha, while the creation of permissive footpaths will pay £77 per 100 metres and £158 per 100 metres bridleways.

Many options will see increased payment rates, but the 10% increase does not apply to everything. Some options will see a much larger increase, while some options will see no change at all. For example, managing a species-rich hay meadow would previously have attracted a payment of £219 per ha in total but that now rises dramatically to £803, an increase of 267%! However, the Native Breed at Risk Supplement falls from £167 per ha to £92 or £146 per ha, depending on livestock numbers.

Disappointingly for upland farmers, the payment for Rough Grazing for Birds remains at £121 per ha. Low input grassland management at £151 per ha is now likely to be the default choice for rough pastures, as it is less restrictive and pays more. This is unlikely to have a positive effect on upland breeding wader populations.

Woodland improvement increases to £127 per ha, and for the management of native woodlands a new supplement will pay an extra £116 per ha, bringing the total payment to £243 per ha – a big improvement on the current rate of £100 per ha. Other new woodland supplements will include management to improve structure and management of historic features in woodland. New agri-forestry actions, under which trees are planted in and around crop and pastureland, will pay between £248 and £849 per ha, depending on the density of planting.

Although many payment rates are increasing within SFI and CS, there is no change to old Higher Level Environmental Stewardship (HLS) agreements. Many HLS agreements are in an extension until 2028. However, the uplift in payment rates in Countryside Stewardship means it may now be more advantageous to switch to a new scheme. Provided the new scheme delivers at least the same level of environmental benefits, agreement holders can leave their HLS early to enter a new Higher Tier CS scheme. The HLS would continue to run until the new agreement is up and running. HLS agreement holders need to do their sums to see if it would be worth making the switch sooner rather than later.

As always, the details will be complex, and farmers and landowners will need expert advice to make the most of these improvements to the current schemes. But at least our beleaguered agricultural industry is beginning 2024 with some positive news for the future.

For full details of the New Actions and changes to Payment Rates, please visit: https://bit.ly/JanELMSchemeUpdate