Update 18 June 2020: announced by Victoria Prentis that full detail in Autumn 2020. Most farmers can expect form filling to be minimal.
This is a new system of making payments to land managers in England made possible by the Agriculture Bill. This is an attempt to summarise the current position.
Scotland has its own Agriculture Bill and will be building a different system.
In Wales there is the Sustainable Farming and Our Land.
I am restricting myself to the ELMS in England for the period of this post.
The 25 February 2020 consultation is the primary source of information about the future of the scheme at the present time
Time scales
The taper period is as follows
- National pilot starts in 2021
- ELM full roll out 2024
- Taper from 2021 t0 2027 when fully operational, with phasing out of direct payments
Countryside Stewardship agreements will continue to be available until 2024.
Tiers
Three tiers are envisaged within the scheme to allow different levels of involvement
Tier 1
This tier focuses on encouraging environmentally sustainable farming and forestry and include actions to create environmental benefits for the majority of farmers to take across their farmed and forested land. Whether it’s using cover crops or planting wildflower margins, this tier could pay farmers across the country to adopt (or continue) practices that can generate valuable outcomes, focusing on those practices that are most effective when delivered at scale.
- Nutrient management (including manure management)
- Pest management(such as Integrated Pest Management, biological control, and precision/spot spraying pesticide application)
- Livestock management (such as improving feed efficiency of livestock through targeted breeding to reduce ammonia emissions, limiting grazing to avoid compaction and run-off)
- Soil management(such as avoiding cultivating/trafficking on wet soils, soil organic matter content, maintaining water levels in peat soils, contour ploughing, minimum- or no-tillage cultivation)
- Field margins (such as flower-rich/species rich margins/field corners, riparian buffer strips)
- Field cover (such as cover crops, arable rotations, companion cropping, leys)
- Water storage/efficient water use
It is expected that payments will be based upon actions taken rather than outcomes to keep this clear and make sure farmers are given clear guidance on what they need to do in order to deliver environmental outcomes while keeping their financial and delivery risks low. Payment rates are likely to be based on the income foregone and costs incurred, with some flexibility to enable a range of outcomes.
Tier 2
This tier would be to support land managers in the delivery of locally targeted environmental outcomes. This tier would target agreed priority outcomes, making sure the right things are delivered in the right places. As such, it may need to use some form of spatial targeting and local planning. Many of the outcomes this tier will deliver may rely on collaboration between land managers. It could therefore include a variety of mechanisms for encouraging and rewarding collaboration and join-up between farmers, foresters and/or other land managers.
Examples of what we might be included:
- Tree, shrub and/or hedge planting
- Habitat creation/restoration/management(including woodland, wetlands, freshwater, peatland, heathland, species-rich grassland, coastal habitat, urban green space)
- In stream/river and on-land interventions to mitigate flooding and to manage sediment for water quality
- Species management, for example, introduction, translocation and/or recovery and invasive species prevention/control
- Rights of way, navigation and recreation infrastructure
- Education infrastructure, events and services
- Geo diversity asset (such as limestone pavements) and heritage asset management
A farmer might be within tier 1 for most day to day farming activities, but potentially become involved in this tier on a specific locally required scheme, for example a water scheme if the farmer has a river running through the land. This would be done in collaboration with other land owners through which the river runs
Tier 3
This tier focuses on delivering landscape scale land-use change projects, where such projects drive added value over and above what can be delivered through tiers 1 and 2. It would coordinate projects that are critical in helping us meeting ambitious environmental commitments such as net zero. This would be fully aligned with activity under the government’s Nature for Climate fund for afforestation and peatland restoration.
Projects might include:
- Forest and woodland creation/restoration/improvement
- Peatland restoration
- Creation / restoration of coastal habitats such as wetlands and salt marsh
Again, as for tier 2, a particular farmer might participate in tier 3 while also being in tier 1 (for most farming activities), tier 2 (for example the river above), and maybe within tier 3 for a land use change project – for example creation of a coastal salt marsh area if the farmer has suitable land. Such a scheme will clearly only work where there are a number of land owners coming together.