Farmers will have additional time to complete their Countryside Stewardship 2024 applications as long as they were started before the deadline of today (Friday, September 15).
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) confirmed the additional time today, stating that any farmer struggling to meet the deadline will still be able to benefit from the scheme.
Defra said last month that, following feedback from farmers, the application window for the 2024 Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier agreements was extended by four weeks until today to give more time for farmers and landowners to submit their applications on online.
For all farmers and landowners who started their application by this deadline or who submitted land changes with the intention to apply, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will support them to ensure they have sufficient time to complete these, Defra said.
Since the deadline was extended, over 600 further applications have been received, bringing the total number of Countryside Stewardship 2024 applications to 6,000.
This builds on the 33,000 Countryside Stewardship agreements successfully in place across England for 2023 – a 94% increase in since 2020.
Countryside Stewardship runs alongside the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and landscape recovery schemes.
Food and Farming Secretary, Thérèse Coffey, said: “I want as many farmers as possible to be able to sign up to our successful Countryside Stewardship scheme which is boosting food production, protecting the planet, and supporting farmers to run profitable businesses.
“This is why I extended the initial deadline for Countryside Stewardship 2024 and am making sure that anyone who started their application by the deadline will be given the time and support to complete this.”
Countryside Stewardship
Defra said the UK government continues to listen to feedback from farmers on its schemes – including the Countryside Stewardship.
“Improvements to the Countryside Stewardship scheme have included increasing payment rates on both revenue and capital items; simplifying and improving options to make them more workable on the ground; and making administration around applications and payments more efficient,” it said.
“Further improvements to the system are also in train, including greater flexibility over when farmers can apply and how they manage their agreements, with improved access for tenant farmers and increased access to Higher Tier options and agreements; and the introduction of Countryside Stewardship Plus to encourage the right things being done in the right places, enable local join-up to deliver bigger and better results and facilitate testing of innovative payment mechanisms such as payment by results. “
SFI
On Wednesday (September 13), the government confirmed that farmers who have a live Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023 (SFI) agreement before the end of the year will receive an accelerated payment – worth 25% of the annual value of their agreement – in the first month of their agreement.
Defra said the payment date has been brought forward “in recognition of the challenges faced with inflation and rising input costs”.
The department announced at the end of August that farmers could start registering their interest for the scheme from August 30, and that applications would begin to be accepted from Monday, September 18.
Farmers are able to be in the Countryside Stewardship and the SFI at the same time as long as the actions are compatible, and they are not being paid for the same action twice.
