Mentions:
1: Mark Spencer (Con - Sherwood) stewardship —particularly in mid-tier—and the sustainable farming incentive. - Speech Link
2: Steve Reed (LAB - Croydon North) We also value the role that farmers play in protecting our great British countryside. - Speech Link
3: Tim Farron (LD - Westmorland and Lonsdale) I want more people in stewardship schemes, landscape recovery and SFI. - Speech Link
4: Thérèse Coffey (Con - Suffolk Coastal) What are we doing to ensure we open the doors to welcome them into SFI and countryside stewardship? - Speech Link
5: Mark Spencer (Con - Sherwood) The scheme has already had a higher uptake than in the first few years of countryside stewardship and - Speech Link
Mar. 14 2024
Source Page: Rural Payments Agency opens claim windows for farm payments for 2024Found: The claim window for existing Countryside Stewardship (CS) revenue and Environmental Stewardship (ES
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will list all Government investments in the farming sector in Christchurch constituency since 1 April 2023.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has supported the farming and rural sector through payments under a range of schemes.
Since 1 April 2023, the RPA has released through schemes and grants approximately £326k in the Christchurch constituency. A breakdown of these figures is in the table below.
Basic Payment Scheme | Countryside Stewardship Scheme | Environmental Stewardship | Sustainable Farm Incentive | Other Grants | Total |
£218,516 | £57,616 | £21,286 | £5,602 | £22,802 | £325,822 |
There are no species recovery or landscape recovery projects funded within the Christchurch constituency.
There are no live Conservation and Enhancement Scheme agreements.
The Dorset peat project is Defra funded. However, there are no peat restoration sites within the constituency boundary – sites at Cannon Hill and Holt Heath are close to the boundary.
The only project to highlight which falls within the constituency is the Salisbury to sea (Christchurch Harbour) fish barrier removal study, which also incorporates floodplain reconnection opportunities funded by Network Rail but is being managed and contracted by Natural England in partnership with the Environment Agency.
Except for New Forest Higher Level Stewardship there are no other funds that Natural England is aware of linked to New Forest National Park which overlaps at the east boundary of the constituency.
There are Countryside Stewardship agreements funded and associated investment of time by Natural England staff locally on agri agreements and Catchment Sensitive Farming (Stour and Avon catchments) within the Christchurch constituency.
Mentions:
1: Lord Cromwell (XB - Excepted Hereditary) I spent last month bouncing back and forth between officials who deal with Countryside Stewardship and - Speech Link
2: Lord Benyon (Con - Life peer) The noble Lord is a weapons-grade guardian of the countryside, and I want to make sure that people like - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Lord Douglas-Miller (Con - Life peer) There are now over 35,000 live Countryside Stewardship agreements—more than double the number since 2020 - Speech Link
2: Lord Teverson (LD - Life peer) Coming back to the question about the environment and the objective of bringing back nature into the countryside - Speech Link
3: Earl Russell (LD - Excepted Hereditary) undertaking new and more complex sets of measures around supporting farmers to undertake environmental stewardship - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Derek Thomas (Con - St Ives) or physiographical features.The current system of notification was put in place by the Wildlife and Countryside - Speech Link
Asked by: Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether payments to farmers in England to rewet upland peat are sufficient (1) to offset management costs and provide income to the farmers, and (2) to ensure levels of restoration activity that are consistent with short-term and long-term targets.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Payment rates are based on the income forgone and costs to the farmer. In January, we announced that we were increasing the payment rate for rewetting moorland peat in Countryside Stewardship from £25 to £181 per hectare. This significant increase will ensure appropriate payment to farmers as well as incentivising rewetting of vitally important peatland.
The Nature for Climate Peatland Grant scheme has provided £35 million of funding to financially commit us to restoring approximately 27,000 hectares of peatland. This scheme is funding a significant proportion of our short-term target of restoring 35,000 hectares by 2025.
The Government’s Environmental Land Management schemes will help us meet our longer-term target to restore 280,000 hectares of peatland by 2050. In particular, the Landscape Recovery scheme will provide successful projects with funding to support large-scale peatland restoration. Payments made to land managers under Landscape Recovery projects will be benchmarked against rates paid for similar activities under existing Government schemes, such as Countryside Stewardship, to ensure payments to farmers are appropriate.
Mentions:
1: Lord Benyon (Con - Life peer) We continue to fund our successful Countryside Stewardship scheme and our landscape recovery scheme, - Speech Link
2: Earl Peel (XB - Excepted Hereditary) There are some interesting developments under the new scheme, which will be worthy of the countryside - Speech Link
3: Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD - Life peer) I am grateful to the Wildlife and Countryside Link, ClientEarth and the NFU for their briefings. - Speech Link
4: Lord Benyon (Con - Life peer) Now with over 32,000 agreements, a 94% increase since 2020, our Countryside Stewardship scheme continues - Speech Link
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what further steps they plan to take to support and protect upland and hill farmers to offset any loss of income they face under the new environmental land management schemes.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Upland farmers play a vital role in managing some of our most important and iconic landscapes, which are valued and recognised by the public. In addition to farming, the management of upland landscapes can provide many environmental benefits and ecosystem services, including clean air and water, carbon sequestration and flood risk management.
Upland farmers are well placed to benefit from our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, which are designed to maintain sustainable, productive land which delivers for both farmers and the environment.
The schemes under ELM have been designed to be as accessible and attractive to as wide a range of farmers as possible. We continue to work closely with a range of environmental and agricultural stakeholders to collaboratively design our new approaches to ensure they are fit for purpose.
Support for small farmers, including upland farmers, includes the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) Management Payment. At the recent National Farmers Union Conference, the Prime Minister announced that this payment will be doubled to a maximum of £2000 per year. At the Conference the Prime Minister also announced the biggest ever package of grants this year, to boost productivity and resilience, which will total £220 million. Upland farmers will be eligible to benefit from this, through increases to the Improving Farming Productivity scheme and the Farming Equipment and Technology fund. And the Prime Minister announced that the Government is also increasing funding for grassroots mental health support, because we know what a tough job farming is; and providing funding to support food producers by redirecting surplus food into the hands of those who need it.
This builds on support already in place for upland farmers. Upland farmers can get paid for over 130 relevant actions under Countryside Stewardship and the SFI from 2024. This will include new moorland and upland peat actions, with considerably higher payments for moorlands in good environmental condition. They can also extend their Higher Level Stewardship agreements for five years if they have one that can run alongside any Countryside Stewardship or SFI agreement they have, allowing them to get paid for more actions and take advantage of recent price increases. And they can apply for Countryside Stewardship Wildlife Offers for a range of management options that focus on providing habitats for farm wildlife.
Upland farmers in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or National Parks can apply for the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme, which funds farmers to support nature recovery, mitigate the impacts of climate change, provide opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and its cultural heritage, or protect or improve the quality and character of the landscape or place. And upland farmers can continue to benefit from the Landscape Recovery scheme, creating the landscape scale and tailored environmental land management change we need for our targets. So far 56 successful projects have been selected for Rounds 1 and 2 of Landscape Recovery, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to funding that delivers environmental benefits in harmony with food production. Defra will open a third round of Landscape Recovery in 2024.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farmers had agreements under the Environmental Land Management Scheme as of 26 February 2024.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As of 26 February, the Rural Payments Agency had offered 14,035 Sustainable Farming Incentive (including SFI Pilot, SFI 2022 and SFI 2023) agreements with 12,903 accepted and 48,665 agreements under the Countryside Stewardship and Environmental Stewardship schemes. Farmers can have more than one agreement in schemes.
In addition, from the launch of the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme (July 2021) to the end of 2022/23 (March 2023), there were over 5,000 farmers and land managers engaged in the programme and over 2,500 projects approved.
Further to this, there are also 22 projects in Round One of the Landscape Recovery Scheme, with a combined total of 266 landowners and 51 tenant farmers. There are 34 projects in Round Two of the Landscape Recovery Scheme; however, the number of landowners and tenant farmers cannot be confirmed yet, as they are currently being enrolled onto the scheme.