Gasson Associates have a wealth of experience with agri-environment schemes from a thorough knowledge of Government policy to practical experience completing applications on farm.

Environmental Stewardship Schemes (Entry Level Stewardship – ELS & Higher Level Stewardship – HLS) have now been replaced by Countryside Stewardship, with agreements starting on the 1 January every year. If your agreement is due to come to end, it is important to make an application during the right ‘window’, to ensure minimal disruption to environment management and income. ELS and HLS have been replaced by ‘Mid’ and ‘Higher’ Tier schemes, and in future all applications will be competitive with no guarantee of an agreement. It is important to get the options and areas right, according to your local priorities, in order to ensure your application is competitive.

• Mid Tier

The Mid Tier of Countryside Stewardship is the most basic level of entry into the scheme. Applicants must ensure that they select options according to their local priorities. Applications will also score more highly if they select options from the new Farm Widlife Package (FWP), if they are part of a facilitated group and/or if they have endorsement from a local catchment officer.

• Higher Tier

The Higher Tier of Countryside Stewardship is relevant to farms which hold sites of high environmental importance. This may be in the form of a valuable habitat, such as wet grassland or species rich grassland, the farm may support rare and specialist species, or could hold a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

In order to apply for the Higher Tier an Expression of Interest must first be completed, and if successful, Natural England will give the go-ahead for an application to commence.

If you would like an initial consultation, free of charge, to discuss environmental schemes on your farm, please do not hesitate to contact us.