The Basic Payment Scheme has been operating as it did before the UK left the EU, with recipients required to comply with cross-compliance. However, it is being phased out and payments have been reduced each year. From 2024 until 2027 existing recipients of BPS will receive annually decreasing delinked BPS payments, but BPS will not be open for new applicants. From 2024 BPS will be replaced by Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs), which will have three components. The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) - will pay for management changes directed at improving environmental performance of farming operations. Countryside Stewardship (CS) – will pay for targeted actions related to specific locations. There will be incentives for land managers to join up to provide bigger results. Landscape Recovery – will pay for large-scale environmental change such as afforestation or creation of new wetland.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive will pay farmers to manage their land in an environmentally sustainable way, paying them for carrying out actions within a set of standards they choose from. It was launched in 2022. Countryside Stewardship has been running for some time, although it has been modified (for example, the introduction of wood pasture schemes to uplands), and has three tiers depending on the depth of environmental measures to be applied. From summer 2024 there will be a single application process for SFI and mid-tier CS actions. Landscape Recovery has already given some grants, and will be open for more in 2024.
Eligibility for Grant Funding – Basic Payment Scheme
Individual trees have been eligible if scattered within an agricultural parcel.
Lines of trees (maximum of two trees width) were eligible if scattered within an agricultural parcel.
Groups of trees on an agricultural parcel that were adjacent to a boundary and 1) the area underneath the canopy was used for agricultural activity (this condition was met when it was suitable for cultivation or grazing of livestock) 2) if unsuitable for cultivation, the entire area under the canopy was accessible to farm animals for grazing on 3) more than 50% of the area underneath the tree canopy was covered by grasses, other herbaceous forage or other arable land. This included silvoarable and silvopastoral agroforestry, riparian forest buffers and windbreaks/shelterbelts.
Eligibility for Grant Funding – Sustainable Farming Incentive Scheme 2024 funding
Some actions will be funded by 3-year grants, to benefit tenant farmers. Some actions that will be funded include maintenance of existing environmental features, and not just improvement of such features as in the past. If applying for the SFI scheme as part of ELMs, there is current funding for: Currently the eligibility criteria include:
Assessing and recording hedgerow condition.
Managing hedgerows.
Maintaining or establishing hedgerow trees.
Under the Countryside Stewardship scheme, there is currently funding for:
Protecting in-field trees on arable land.
Managing woodland edges on arable land.
Creating or managing successional areas or scrub.
Creating traditional orchards and managing them.
Creating wood pasture in the lowlands or the uplands.
Restoring lowland wood pasture or parkland, and managing it.
Restoring upland wood pasture or parkland, and managing it.
Management of hedgerows by rotational cutting and leaving some hedges uncut.
Planting and restoring hedgerows.
There will be premium rates of funding for those actions with the biggest environmental impact. In relation to trees on farms, from 2024 these actions will include:
Maintaining very low density in-field agroforestry on less sensitive land.
Maintaining very low density in-field agroforestry on more sensitive land.
Maintaining low density in-field agroforestry on less sensitive land.
Maintaining low density in-field agroforestry on more sensitive land.
Maintaining medium density in-field agroforestry.
Maintaining high density in-field agroforestry.
Maintaining riparian and river edge habitats.
Woodland Creation, including creation of shelterbelts, is funded under the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO). This is scheduled to become part of the Countryside Stewardship scheme (part of ELMs) from 2025.
Last updated January 2024