Reacting to the news that thousands of farm businesses will be able to roll over Countryside Stewardship schemes, Carter Jonas Partner James Bradley said: "This is very good news for the 5,000 farm businesses who were set to enter into a funding gap between the end of their current agreements and the opening of the new SFI scheme, which looks likely to be at the end of spring.

"Those farmers will be able to retain and replace the environmental goods that they have provided without the need to look for alternative income, which may have involved differing management.

"We will be advising clients to be ready to accept their extensions as soon as the opportunity arises in order to avoid funding delays.

"We hope that DEFRA will now recognise the issue facing farm businesses who remain in legacy Countryside Stewardship schemes where there is no mechanism allowing them to roll over into the SFI. For these businesses, a huge disparity in option payment values still exist."