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Know How / Environmental schemes

Each of the UK’s devolved administrations has its own agri-environment scheme – for example, the Countryside Stewardship Scheme in England and the Agri-environment Climate Scheme in Scotland.

Find out what’s involved in signing up to a ‘green scheme’ and get practical tips on putting together your application.

Advice and tips

PAYMENTS, SCHEMES AND GRANTS

Advice on preparing early for new grant funding applications

A new round of standalone Countryside Stewardship (CS) Capital Grants 2025-26 will open this summer worth £45m and funding a significant proportion of the cost of a wide range of…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

A guide to staying SFI compliant

Unlike more rigid support schemes of the past, the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is all about giving farmers greater flexibility to make actions work for their farm, while simultaneously delivering…

ARABLE

Tips on achieving healthy hedgerows on farm

Hedges are a defining feature of our countryside and one of the best habitats for wildlife on any farm.  Far more than being a boundary, they also support farm business…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

Nutrient mitigation market merits careful consideration

Headlines about housebuilding being held up by environmental measures have abated to some extent, but the need to ensure that new development does not increase the nitrogen and phosphate loading…

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Case studies

CROP MANAGEMENT

Why one Essex arable farm faces difficult decisions in 2025

Essex farmer Tom Streeter admits that he and his brother Will have some difficult decisions to make about the future of the family farming business, having looked at the details…

ARABLE

No-till provides zero cost way into support scheme

Kent grower Richard Day is set to use his adoption of direct drilling and precision fertiliser techniques under new environment schemes to gain more than 40% of his old direct…

NEWS

FW Awards: Environmental Champion of the Year 2024

David and Helen Brass of The Lakes Free Range Egg Co, Cumbria are the Farmers Weekly Environmental Champion of the Year 2024 winners. Environmental delivery is a concept that has…

ARABLE

How a sustainability scoring system is helping Kent farm

Knowing how the farm is performing across six different environmental impact areas is important for Kent grower Alan Clifton-Holt, who wants to make the most of any new market opportunities…

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Insights

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

Farmers share how bombshell SFI closure will affect them

Defra’s abrupt closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for new applicants has rightfully left farmers across England feeling frustrated and betrayed. Why did the Labour party decide to close…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

Learnings from pioneering Landscape Recovery project

The North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster (NECFC) is almost two years into the project development phase for its Evenlode Landscape Recovery (LR) scheme application. The group represents 160 members covering…

ARABLE

How to get arable land ditches working for wildlife

There are 500,000km of ditches in the British countryside, reaching almost every corner of the land. Found in most parts of the lowlands and surprisingly far up in the hills,…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

Development drive brings plan to change nutrient mitigation

A new approach to nutrient mitigation is planned by setting up a body to deliver measures to address nitrogen and phosphate pollution across many river catchments in England, alongside other…

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News

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

Countryside Stewardship claim window opens for 2025

Farm businesses can now submit 2025 revenue claims for Countryside Stewardship (CS) or Environmental Stewardship (ES) to the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). The claim window will remain fully open until…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

Cornwall Council launch natural capital market for landowners

Farmers in Cornwall could be eligible for payments for environmental projects on their land through a new online marketplace. Cornwall Council have partnered with nature recovery platform EnTrade and sustainability…

NEWS

Ministers invited to choose which wildlife plots must go

A Bedfordshire arable farmer has written to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, Defra ministers and chancellor Rachel Reeves to ask if they might help decide which wildlife plots to rip…

AGRICULTURAL TRANSITION

Emergency SFI meeting scheduled with Defra farming minister

An emergency roundtable meeting with farming organisations has been scheduled for Monday 17 March to discuss Defra’s decision to pull the plug on new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) applications. Farming…

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