English On Thursday 26th January 2023 the Secretary of State for farming announced an acceleration of the ELMS Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFI) with the addition of six new standards later this year. This means farmers will soon be paid for action on hedgerows, grassland, arable and horticultural land, pest management and nutrient management. This follows another recent announcement that the Countryside Stewardship will see around 30 additional actions available to farmers by the end of 2024. Our Campaigns Coordinator Jyoti Fernandes welcomes these commitments, but calls for greater ambition.
The LWA is pleased to welcome the new government commitment to SFI with new standards and the enhanced Countryside Stewardship plus, with a commitment to the inclusion of 30 new options but feel there is still much work to be done to lift the ambition in ELMS to match the scale of the farming, environment, and biodiversity crises.
So much fantastic work has been done by civil servants to roll out the 6 new standards in SFI, but SFI needs a budget that matches the need of farmers so that they have a decent income to support the good work they will be doing. Now, despite announcements about an uplift in payment rates for the first 50 hectares, payment rates are still too low to replace the loss of BPS income.
We are also disappointed that the eligibility requirements continue to exclude non-BPS recipients, effectively excluding all farms below 5 hectares. Defra continues to promise this will be lifted but not until 2024. We see no reason why this shouldn’t happen now so that active farms below 5 hectares can finally start to get the support they deserve.
It’s a real achievement to see standards being included to support integrated pest management, but we still feel that there is a need to pull the options together more holistically. Farmers should be required to create a whole farm management plan for all agreements, even if farmers do not go for all the options available. This should be accompanied by advice and peer support networks.
In the new options to be added to the Countryside Stewardship scheme we are asking for payment options to support a wider set of public goods, most importantly:
1. Public access, engagement, and education
2. Agrobiodiversity in orchards, plants, and livestock breeds
3. Reduction of the use of soya in animal feeds, with incentives for farmers to grow pulses
Plus, a full package of horticultural market garden and orchard options, such as the options developed by the LWA in our Growing the Goods test and trial to be part of Countryside Stewardship plus.
Defra should also create a range of options for the pig and poultry sectors, for which the current Countryside Stewardship options are largely irrelevant.
The LWA will continue to engage with the ELMS process to push for all of these measures as part of a stronger ELMS based on a sustainable, resilient, diverse, and fair food and farming system.
You can read more about our work on guiding the agricultural transition in England, Scotland and Wales yma.
