From 1 September, if you have land in a Countryside Stewardship or Environmental Stewardship agreement, but not on common land, you can now apply online directly by signing into the Rural Payments service.
Farmers in North Cumbria's Forgotten Lands are working with Natural England and Defra to help shape future environmental land management schemes. In this third video in a series of 3 about the North Cumbria Farmers Group Test and Trial, uplands livestock farmer and local history expert Barbara Smith explains how the group have been mapping the natural capital of the land, and the background to this history-rich area of north-west England.
From the end of this month, £16.5 million will be available through 2 new research and development competitions. There is no set theme for these competitions as we don’t want to create barriers to innovation. However, all projects must focus on improving the productivity, environmental sustainability and resilience of England’s agricultural, horticultural and forestry sectors. In this post, I'll give an overview and an update on the previous rounds.
In episode 9 of the Future Farming podcast, Defra's farming strategy lead, Briony Turner, talks to land use adviser Harry Greenfield of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and farm adviser Lynette Steel, of the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) about new environmental schemes.
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.
Through our new environmental land management schemes, we will pay farmers and land managers to enhance the natural environment alongside food production. In this post, I'll share more information about how we expect Local Nature Recovery to work.
The England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) is one of a number of ongoing payments that can support farmers to manage their land in an environmentally sustainable way while continuing to produce food. In this post, I'll share more.
Over the past 2 years, the Foundation for Common Land, in collaboration with the Federation of Cumbria Commoners, delivered a tests and trials project to look at commons. In this guest post, Professor Julia Aglionby shares their work which explored how environmental land management schemes should be developed to support commons.
In the latest episode of the Future Farming Podcast, Cambridgeshire farmer Martin Lines and Sustainable Farming Incentive lead Jonathan Marsden talk all things Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and environmental land management.
The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway supports improvements in farm animal health and welfare. The first step of the pathway is the Annual Health and Welfare Review. Starting this autumn, farmers who keep cattle, sheep and pigs can get funding to pay for a vet or vet-led team to visit their farm and carry out a yearly review. We’re now ready to put more of the pathway to the test and we need your help.
This week, we’ll be at:
NSA Sheep South West in East Knowstone Devon – 25 June
The Royal Norfolk Show in Norwich – 25–26 June
The CAAV Conference in Edinburgh – 27 June
Come and say hello to our team.
You can find us at these agricultural shows and conferences in 2025.
