Defra launched the new Countryside Stewardship scheme on Thursday, which ministers said will offer grants to help improve the environment and countryside over the next five years.

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• Wildlife and nature: restoring habitats, providing food and nesting places for birds, insects and other animals, creating areas for rare flowering plants and managing hedges
• Pollinators: providing pollen and nectar sources and nesting places and ensuring the right resources for wild pollinators where they are most needed
• Woodland: funding the creation of new woodland and supporting the management of existing woodlands
• Water/flooding: making water cleaner and reducing risk of flooding by encouraging changes to farming practice (such as crop management), improving farm infrastructure and establishing woodland

Commenting on Thursday, NFU Vice President Guy Smith said, “Overall, at this late stage, there are still a number of questions about how the scheme will work but we are committed to working with Defra and Natural England on its development and - more importantly – how it will be implemented on the ground.”

He said that details on record keeping and other terms and conditions of the scheme are still not available and added, “It is disappointing that we don’t have a decision on dual use - the practice of landlords and tenants claiming for different schemes on the same parcel of land. For applicants this year the decision is needed quickly.”

Competitive scheme

The Stewardship scheme is being run on a competitive basis for the first time this year. Applications will be ranked and money only awarded to those who will make the biggest improvements in their local area. In order to assess the comparative benefits of different proposals, applications made under the scheme will be scored against a range of local priorities which Defra said have already been drawn up.

More information is available from Defra here.

NFU’s Guy Smith said, “New Countryside Stewardship is competitive and not everyone applying will be successful. However, farmers shouldn’t forget the hard work carried out under Stewardship schemes and can maintain the environmental benefits already achieved by implementing Campaign for the Farmed Environment measures.”