Katie Hilton, Director and grant funding specialist at Cheffins says:

"Defra has today published its review of Countryside Stewardship payment rates after it acknowledged last year they were out of date, having not been reviewed since 2013. This comes as part of a major shake up to the sector through the government’s Agricultural Transition Plan and will ensure that payments made through existing schemes will sit in line with new incentive schemes being brought forward, such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

This is good news for both existing Countryside Stewardship agreement holders and those entering into new agreements. The new rates will apply to all agreements from 1st January 2022 which means farmers will start to see the benefit when the next round of annual payments is made in December 2022.

Arable farmers will see an uplift to payments for options such as ‘AB1 Nectar flower mix’ which sees an increase from £511 per hectare to £579 per hectare, and ‘AB15 Two-year sown legume fallow’ which sees an increase from £522 per hectare to £569 per hectare. A more substantial increase applies to the ‘AB8 Flower-rich margins and plots’ option, from £539 per hectare to £628 per hectare.

Payment increases have been applied to most but not all options, with ‘AB9 Winter bird food’ remaining unchanged at £640 per hectare.

Countryside Stewardship options for grassland have also seen some increases although the most relevant option for most under the Mid-Tier scheme, ‘GS2 Permanent grassland with very low inputs’ sees a fairly disappointing increase from £95 per hectare to £132 per hectare.

A very small number of Countryside Stewardship options have had their payment rates decreased, although where this is the case, it will only apply to new entrants from 1st January 2023. All existing agreement holders will have their payment rates either protected at the same level or increased in line with the new rate.

This review is welcomed and will offer a fairer return for farmers. However, it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to entice more entrants into the scheme over the next couple of years before ELMs is fully rolled out.”

For further information, contact Katie Hilton on 01223 271959 or katie.hilton@cheffins.co.uk