Rural News: UK Government announces further changes to ELMs (Environmental Land Management Scheme)

Rural News

UK Government announces further changes to the ELMs (Environmental Land Management)  scheme detailing plans which will aim to expedite the roll out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).

Helen Proud, Associate Rural Surveyor, shares her findings on this mornings announcement from Parliament:

Farmers across England will be eligible for further public funding to help cover up to 280 differing environmentally responsible farming actions. Among them, Six additional actions or standards will be added to the Sustainable Farming Incentive this year, to assist farmers in the environmentally sound maintenance. These include:

• Hedgerow management
• Integrated Pest management
• Nutrient management
• Low input grassland
• Improved grassland
• Arable and horticultural land

This, in addition to the existing soils and animal health and welfare standards introduced in 2022, which nearly 1900 farmers already have in agreements. Environmental Secretary Therese Coffey said “farmers were at the heart of the economy, producing food but also being the custodians of the land it comes from”.

It is envisaged that the introduction of these incentives will ensure the country becomes more resilient and efficient in terms of food production, whilst not only operating within, but helping significantly to achieve the UK’s environmental goals on Carbon, biodiversity, water quality and net zero.

Rt Hon Mark Spencer, Minister for Food, Farming and Fisheries delivered the plans to Parliament today and stated: “More farms of all shapes and sizes can make doing their bit for the environment part of their business plan. Each year we will add offers to SFI with the full set-in place by 2025 so farmers can choose more options for their businesses and is vital for producing food, tackling the causes and impacts of climate change and helping nature recover.

He went on to say,  "We are making it straightforward and simple to get involved. We know that farmers need to plan for the months and years ahead as early as possible so today we are publishing information of the work we will be rewarding by 2025 through the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship as well and sharing information on the next round of landscape recovery projects. We remain ambitious as ever and as we move ahead through our transition and work with farmers to design a much better way of doing things.”

We welcome the news, farmers have already seen a large reduction in their BPS payments without any further funding really filling this gap. A lot of farmers were hesitant to enter into the SFI until they had more details of the other available options, this will allow farmers to start planning for the end of BPS. We are happy to assit you in navigating these changes and to discuss the ELMs or any other rural funding schemes.

To contact our grants and subsidies team please call you local youngsRPS office.