The government has today (Wednesday, December 11) confirmed, it has injected more than £343 million into the rural economy in the first week of December, which has benefitted more than 31,000 farmers.
This includes payments worth £223 million to Countryside Stewardship revenue customers and £74 million to 4,400 Environmental Stewardship customers, administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).
A new and improved Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) scheme will open in 2025, providing new quarterly payments which are designed to improve farmers’ cashflow and a rolling application window so customers can apply throughout the year.
The expanded CSHT scheme will have some of the same features as the popular Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme which it is designed to run alongside it, enabling farmers to participate in both schemes where they have land that is eligible.
CHST will be phased in on a controlled monthly basis, rather than an initial annual single payment, with initial applications open to invitations only, which the government claims, is to make the scheme more prescriptive and flexible in nature.
To ensure continuity, farmers whose CSHT agreements expire in 2024 will be offered mirror agreements lasting five or 10 years.
Those with higher level stewardship agreements expiring in 2024 will be offered two-year extensions, while those expiring in 2025 will be offered one or two-year extensions, according to the government.
The £5 billion farming budget also includes new actions to improve flood resilience and species abundance and important funding to secure enhanced environmental benefits and deliver for nature recovery, including sensitive areas such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
Rural Payments Agency, chief executive, Paul Caldwell said: “Our farmers are the heartbeat of the nation’s rural economy, and RPA remains focused on supporting them by getting payments into bank accounts as quickly as possible.
“I am very pleased that this December we have been able to inject more funding than ever from environmental schemes into the rural economy.
“This comes at the same time as providing more certainty over the details in higher tier offer to enable farmers to see for themselves how it can benefit them.”
Government initiatives
The government have also announced an additional 14 SFI endorsed actions which will be available from next summer, to enable farmers and land managers to contribute further benefits to grassland, heritage and coastal sites.
The government intends to pay out £39 million in quarterly payments through SFI, which will cover more than 8000 agreements and include over 320 payments for customers who have renewed agreements during the summer.
A further £7.4 million has been paid to customers who have completed capital grants, government said.
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed said: “Our commitment to farmers is steadfast.
“That is why this government is working hard to get money into farmers bank accounts as well as announcing today how farmers can benefit from the new CHST scheme, with more flexible actions, improved payments to help cashflow and a rolling application window.
“It’s part of our £5 billion farming budget over two years, the largest ever directed at sustainable food production in our country’s history.
“As we set out our Plan for Change, we are focused on supporting our farmers, supporting rural economics growth and boosting Britain’s food security.”
The government is also in the process of developing a 25-year farming roadmap, which will focuses on how to make the agri-sector more sustainable and resilient in the decades to come.
