Introducing SFI Management Payments and changes to Countryside Stewardship rates

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Countryside Stewardship, Sustainable Farming Incentive, Things we've learned
Winter scene on the Killerton estate by Alison Day

In this, the first blog post of the year, I’d like to share two updates with you and explain the rationale behind them. The first update is a change to Countryside Stewardship payment rates. The second is the introduction of the Sustainable Farming Incentive Management Payment.

The next steps for the SFI annual health and welfare review

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: A view from the farm, environmental land management schemes, Payments to improve animal health and welfare
Farmer and vet look in on piglets

The SFI annual health and welfare review is a fully funded vet visit which farmers can receive each year. With the help of volunteer farmers and vets, we started testing the review in September. In this post, I’d like to give you an update on what we’ve learned through testing. I’ll also share our plans for …

Watch: Farming in protected landscapes in the Lake District

Posted by: and , Posted on: - Categories: environmental land management schemes, Payments to restore landscapes and ecosystems

In the second of our series of films from the Lake District, local farm facilitator Danny Teasdale took us to meet Jasmine Holliday. Jasmine is a Farming Officer in the Lake District National Park and she works on the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme. In this video, Jasmine talks about the ambitions of the programme, …

How we used co-design to create vet visits 

Posted by: , and , Posted on: - Categories: Conversations we're having, Payments to improve animal health and welfare, Things we're doing, Things we've learned

Farmers, vets, industry representatives, and colleagues in government are shaping the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway together. The first step of the pathway is the Annual Health and Welfare Review. In this post, we share how we used co-design to create the yearly vet visits. 

Funding available for robotics and automation in farming

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Payments for research and innovation, Things we're doing
Device controlling agricultural robot

From 9 January 2023, farmers, growers and agritech businesses in England will be able to apply for funding to develop innovative ideas in the areas of robotics and automation. In this post, I’ll give an overview of the competition, dates for your diary and links for you to find out more.

An update on the first round of Landscape Recovery projects

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: A view from the farm, Payments to restore landscapes and ecosystems
Darent Valley Farm Cluster.

In summer, we announced the 22 projects chosen for the first round of Landscape Recovery. We initially said we would recruit up to 15 projects, but we were so impressed with the quality of applications that we ended up extending this to 22. In this post, I’ll share more about the projects, including how they …

Apply for a Slurry Infrastructure grant

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Payments for equipment, technology and infrastructure
Laptop open on Slurry Infrastructure grant checker

A fortnight ago, we made full guidance for the new Slurry Infrastructure grant available on GOV.UK.  I said I’d blog again when it was time to apply. I’m pleased to say that the first round is now open for applications and it will stay open until 31 January 2023.  

New Entrant Support Scheme: apply for the pilot

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Payments for entering farming
Landscape with mist

We want to better support those who want to enter farming and develop land-based businesses. One idea that we said we were keen to test through a pilot was incubation: providing tactical support to young businesses through the early stages of development. We put out a call for proposals from organisations to lead these projects through …