DEFRA has today announced an increase in payment rates for farmers and landowners through Countryside Stewardship, Sustainable Farming Incentive and England Woodland Creation Offer Schemes, which will provide more financial support. It is hoped this will increase uptake at a time of rising costs for farmers.

Countryside Stewardship 

From 1st January 2023, both new and existing Countryside Stewardship agreement holders will benefit from increases in revenue option payment rates. The increase in capital item payment rates will apply to new agreements only. This provides an ideal opportunity for those currently not in a scheme to review their options. 

Key changes in revenue option payment rates include: 

AB8 (flower rich margins and plots) £628/ha to £673/ha

AB9 (winter bird food) £640/ha to £732/ha 

GS2 (Permanent grassland with very low inputs (outside of SDAs) £132/ha to £151/ha

GS5 (low input grassland in uplands) £71/ha to £98/ha

SW3 (in-field grass strip) £624/ha to £658/ha 

Key changes in capital item payment rates include:

BN11 (planting new hedges) £11.60/m to £22.97/m

BN12 (stone wall restoration) £25/m to £31.91/m

FG2 (sheep netting) £4.90/m to £7.47/m

RP15 (concreting) £27.14/m2 to £33.64/sqm

RP28 (Roofing: sprayer washdown area, manure storage area, livestock gathering area, slurry stores, silage stores) £62/sqm to £72.50/sqm

To see the full list of payment rate increases please follow the links below: 

Revenue options payment rate changes from 1 January 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Capital items payment rate changes from 5 January 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Sustainable Farming Incentive 

Farmers will receive up to £1,000 as an ‘SFI Management Payment’ of £20 per hectare for the first 50 hectares of a farm in an SFI agreement entered into the scheme. An expanded range of SFI standards, which cover the actions farmers can undertake to enhance nature, will be published soon.

For further information regarding your payments, please get in touch with our team on 0333 920 2220.