Skip to main content

Environmental Stewardship

Wet weather and temporary adjustments to agri-environment agreements

Heavy rainfall has a devastating and long-term impact on farming. This disruption not only affects livelihoods but also has wider implications for food security and the economy too. We're introducing temporary adjustments and easements within the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), the SFI Pilot, Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (ES) to support farmers and land managers dealing with the impacts of severe weather in England.

Countryside Stewardship: Higher Tier agreements to start in 2024

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship
View of countryside with woods in background and cattle at a watering spot

The window for applications for Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier closed in April. Mid Tier and Wildlife Offer agreements are still open for applications until 18 August 2023. A number of 3-year capital grants are also open to help achieve specific environmental benefits, including a new Higher Tier Capital grant, woodland tree heath grants and Woodland Management Plans. In this post, we’ll set out the process for assessing applications and provide an update on the number of applications being taken forward.  

Environmental Stewardship: an update

We recently wrote to everyone with Environmental Stewardship agreements to outline some changes that we plan to introduce in 2023. Rather than offering agreement holders an extension of a single year, we're offering extensions of 5 years. This change, shaped by feedback, gives greater certainty and clarity to people in existing agri-environment agreements. It also removes the burden of having to apply for an extension each year.