Deadline looms for final Mid Tier CS applications

The application deadline for the last Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship and Wildlife Offers in their current form is Friday 18 August 2023, farmers in England are being reminded.

With Defra planning to develop Countryside Stewardship (CS) into Countryside Stewardship Plus, instead of a new Local Nature Recovery Scheme, this is the final year that agreements as the industry knows them will be awarded.

New Mid-Tier agreements, which will start in 2024 and last for five years, are guaranteed and give farmers certainty, point out experts, who add that the alternative – the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) – is still potentially liable to change by Defra.

See also: Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship 2024 now open for applications

Despite the SFI’s greater flexibility, the sudden closure of the 2022 version, along with the end of different standards and ambition levels, took the industry by surprise, they add.

Compared with CS, its pick-and-mix approach and rolling application window mean the SFI will be easier to fit around other farming activities in many situations, they acknowledge, but the detail needs careful study.

Stick with CS

Those with higher value environmental habitats and historic features present on their farms are being advised to stick with Mid-Tier CS, both for financial and environmental protection reasons.  

Otherwise, although there are new actions exclusive to the SFI, such as those that reward farmers for not using insecticides and for establishing a companion crop, much of the SFI 2023 offer replicates Countryside Stewardship.

This confirms that CS in its current guise is being phased out, with further new actions expected to be introduced next year to expand the SFI offer.

Defra has indicated that the SFI 2023 offer will open for a controlled rollout starting later this month, but there was no further detail on timings.

Farmers who have existing stewardship agreements can be part of both CS and SFI, but they cannot be paid twice for the same action on the same piece of land. 

They can also still put in capital works applications on eligible land at any time of the year, including land entered into the SFI.