Details published on Environmental Land Management Schemes

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published further information on the growth and rollout of its Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS). In England, these will replace Common Agricultural Policy funding and allow farmers and land managers to be paid for delivering environmental outcomes in addition to their vital work producing food.

Its publication has:

• Set out all the future actions that Defra will pay for, including payment rates for those that will begin this year across the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship.
• Provided more information on the evolved Countryside Stewardship scheme.
• Announced a new round of Landscape Recovery funding, opening in the spring.

Defra has also sped up the rollout of the Sustainable Farming Incentive by introducing six new standards for which funding can be granted, adding to the three existing ones; these will become available this summer.

In the creation of these new schemes and grants, Defra has aimed for versatility and to make them more straightforward, flexible and workable. It is keen to encourage farmers to take another look at what might suit their farm.

Further details are available in Defra's blog post about the announcement, as well as in the full policy paper available on gov.uk.