Whilst the detail of the whole Environmental Land Management scheme is not yet by any means clear, we do know that there will be a basic level which should be attainable by all holdings, known as the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). It also now seems that the middle level of ELMs will be closely modelled on or will even incorporate the current Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme.
Following on from the SFI pilot, which is still in progress, a preliminary version of SFI was launched in the autumn. This only covered soils and moorland management and the reaction has tended to be somewhat negative, reflecting the relatively modest amounts (£22/ha at the lower level) and some complexity in applying, since the scheme cannot generally overlap with land being supported under CS and the preliminary details suggested that applications would need to be accompanied by very detailed mapping showing exactly which areas of each field were used by CS options.
Perhaps in response to the criticisms, major improvements to SFI were announced at the Oxford Farming Conference early in January. Primarily, an additional £20/ha will be given on the first 50 ha of any claim as an “SFI management” payment. This will benefit most applicants by £1,000, and additional standards (presumably to cover land, water, hedgerows and woodland) will follow.
Secondly, the amounts paid for the various CS options will be increased with effect from 1 January. The increase in revenue payments averages 10% with some organic options receiving more – the organic management of top fruit, for example, is doubled. Payments for CS capital options are also being increased and the supplement for the creation of hedgerows is almost doubling to £22.97/metre. At the time of writing, the cost of plants and guards is about £5/metre so, where appropriate land is available, this is starting to look like an attractive use of any spare labour in spring and autumn.
It also appears that the application process may have been streamlined. It is possible to apply online but the land parcels now seem to have been prepopulated with the areas under CS agreements so an SFI agreement can be applied for in literally one click per parcel and, in the writer’s case, was agreed by the RPA the following day.
In August, DEFRA announced that the mechanism to switch from old CSS agreements to new schemes is now in place, and will be accepted provided that the new scheme provides more environmental benefits than the existing contract.Finally, on 26 January, an ELMs update was published giving further details of the actions required for the six new SFI standards. Some of these seem quite different to those used in the pilot scheme – for example, the proposed arable land standard seems to require a mixture of actions including or closely mirroring existing stewardship options, whereas the pilot was much more widely drafted. It would appear that businesses will need to compare the costs and benefits of CSS and SFI on a standard by standard basis to decide on the best way forward.
Clearly the new schemes, even at the enhanced rates, will not replace the amounts paid under the old flat rate schemes, but they will at least take some of the sting out of the next annual reduction of 15%, particularly for those businesses within CS schemes. It remains to be seen how far the addition of other SFI options will improve the financial attractiveness of the initiative but at present the money seems reasonable and one would hope that the obligations will remain fairly light.
The January update is a useful reference document and can be found here: