Important new changes to all new ELS and HLS agreements
Farmers and landowners should be aware of important changes to Environmental Stewardship which are shortly to be introduced. Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) have been available to farmers and landowners since August 2005. There have already been some changes with the withdrawal of the management plans under all provisional agreements issued in 2007. The latest changes affect all new applications received after 15 August 2008. Applications received up to this date will be under the current handbook rules while all subsequent applications will be under the new handbook rules, which are more restrictive. In particular those farmers giving up or taking on land need to make sure that Natural England are notified of changes within three months, whilst those taking over land must apply to enter land within four months.
Possible end to set aside?
With a 0% rate for set aside in 2008, it is interesting to note that all the set aside options have been withdrawn, but does this confirm set aside is to go? A number of other options under ELS have been withdrawn or modified. EG5 (Brassica fodder crops) under which many farmers grow stubble turnips followed by spring cropping disappears. The minimum area required under ‘field corner management’ rises from 1 hectare (ha) to 2ha. The maximum block size of ‘wild bird seed mixtures’ has also increased from 0.5ha to 2ha and the option now allows limited use of insecticides, two changes that the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust has been lobbying for. A new option of ‘un-harvested cereal headland’ (EF10) is another addition devised by the Trust and will offer those who are looking to increase wild game production a helping hand. The popular option EK2 (grassland with low inputs) has been modified and farmers will now be required to remove cuttings, and are prevented from topping grass except to control weeds.
The no topping option may lead to animal health issues
The no topping option will make this option less popular because topping is necessary to avoid storky long grass developing during the late summer, which may cause a foot condition in sheep called Scald. Another significant change is the extension by one month of the period when hedges can’t be cut which under the Single Payment Scheme Cross Compliance rules is 1 March until 31 July.
HLS funding significantly increased
Under the Higher Level Stewardship scheme farmers and landowners should be aware that significant additional funding is now available, which means farms other than those with SSSI’s (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) will now have a much better chance of being accepted into the scheme. There will also be increased flexibility in new HLS schemes whereby officers are able to fit existing management practices to scheme options rather than the other way round. In the past, there was little room to work outside of the prescriptions noted in the various options. Now there is a willingness to use the options as a guide for suitable payment rates to apply to a particular management system.
Although we have seen commodity prices increase over the last 12 months, input costs have followed closely behind. Oil prices have now started to slip but so have cereal, oilseed and livestock prices, wheat is now down to £120/tonne and lambs down to £1.20/kg live weight (at the time of writing). We would urge farmers to make sure that they maximise income from Single Payment and Environmental Stewardship Schemes in order to maximise turnover.
For further information and practical farm assistance please contact us. This article is intended to be an informative guide and the opinions offered should not be relied on wholly for the advice that may be needed in specific circumstances. Original article written by James McIntyre, 28 July 2008. Farms Management Department 01858 411234
