75% in bridging cash needed to plug Countryside Stewardship scheme hole

Defra is under pressure to introduce 75% bridging payments for farmers in England still waiting for agri-environment scheme money, in some cases nine months after it was due.

A joint letter from the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), NFU and Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) to Defra secretary Michael Gove has described the situation as “shambolic” and the scheme as “not fit for purpose”.

See also: How to apply for wildlife arable Countryside Stewardship offer

The three organisations are also demanding a rollover of existing Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) schemes, given the delays and risks of trying to sign up to new Countryside Stewardship (CS) arrangements.

“Farmers and landowners are rightly proud of the environmental delivery achieved through agri-environment schemes, but this good work is being undermined both by late payments and by the poor administration of new schemes,” says the letter.

Payment delays

Payments normally come in two tranches – with the first (75%) payment made in October and the balancing payment arriving in February.

But, according to NFU deputy president, Guy Smith, “thousands are waiting for the advance payments and even more are waiting for final payments”.

The delays are understood to be due in part to the use of the same system that blighted BPS payments in the past, and the agreements moving from a monthly rolling system to a single start date.

“We are calling on Defra to make bridging payments to the value of 75% of the annual payment to those who have not received any payments and are fortunate enough to be in an agri-environment agreement,” said Mr Smith.

Similar bridging payments were made under the BPS scheme in April, putting some £117m into the accounts of more than 3,200 farms in England. 

Rollover request

According to the joint letter, as recently as 2014, more than 70% of farmland was involved in environmental work through ELS and HLS schemes.

“Huge investment has gone into achieving environmental gains on farmland. However, farmers are now reporting that, when existing agreements end, they don’t see the current CS scheme as a realistic option.

“The risks of falling foul of the rules is too high and Natural England is struggling to convert sufficient expiring HLS agreements into Higher Tier Countryside Stewardship.”

This is putting at risk years of valuable conservation work, with many farmers unable to start new agreements.

The three organisations say Defra must give serious consideration to allow expiring schemes to continue on a year-to-year basis, “while we transit towards new schemes for the long term”.

There are about 8,300 CS agreements in place and 24,500 expiring ELS and HLS agreements.

The government plans to introduce a new environmental land management scheme once the UK has left the EU.