Countryside Stewardship Extension

[Wooly]

My 5 year CSS is due to come to an end this December and as the new ELMS scheme hasn't been finalised, I have been offered an extension for a further 5 years.

Now, although I am happy to oblige to save another forest being chopped down for the monotonous paperwork that these schemes produce, I do feel that when I signed on year one the payment rate was acceptable............ but without an index linked inflation for our proposed extension, by year 10 the business will be several thousands of pounds worse off each year and at a time when the SFP will also be reduced.

Is anyone else in the same boat as me ? I don't want to agree on the extension and jeapardise other farmers that have agreements running out.


For the record, the land in question is an SSSI so I can not just walk away from a nature agreement.

 

[Pan mixer]

Are the payment rates index linked then, they didn't look all that special to me...

Then, my cereal, pig, beef and sheep price aren't index linked either.

New agreements are available that should morph into ELMs, doing one at present.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

This throws up a number of significant issues and should be a red light to all of those who think ELMS will be their salvation at some point in the future but will only start after 2024.
Firstly if the OP accepts another 5 years at the same payment rates, this will be around 11 years since the amount was first calculated as income foregone. Now while we all know that our incomes have not gone up by very much over that time, our costs certainly have. The very least that the RPA/DEFRA could do is agree an index linking over the initial payments for the next 5 year period.

There is a double whammy here because you will have BPS being eroded significantly by 2023 and in schemes such as this where you are in Higher tier CS and SSSI you are unable to change your farming practices to derive more income (Preservation Not Conservation).
Those who think that ELMS will be a magical extra pot of money will be sadly disappointed as there is absolutely no guarantee on how much it will be and going forward the "Money Tree" is looking as if it has "Dieback"!

Many of the present schemes are being given one year extensions, however no one has said what will happen after the one year, will you just get another one year? Does this carry on until ELMS appears and you suddenly find out that the payment rates for ELMS are so low for your type of farming that it is not worth doing and anyway it was so long ago that you went into your original scheme that the value has been completely eroded, It has been mentioned that it is not anticipated to have the new scheme fully operational until 2029.

Before we all get enthusiastic about any new scheme, the existing schemes need to be made fit for purpose and a first step would be to pay on time for them.

 

[yellow belly]

when my mid tier runs out
I hope to put in a new application as we can improve on the previous application

 

[yellow belly]

when my mid tier runs out
I hope to put in a new application as we can improve on the previous application

 

[Pan mixer]

when my mid tier runs out
I hope to put in a new application as we can improve on the previous application

That is what I did the year before last and then some additional land has appeared and a new scheme is being signed up for.

Currently I am not worrying about the long haul, I know that the CS will pay for a few more years which will help no matter what happens to the sfp

 

[Cows 'n grass]

My 5 year CSS is due to come to an end this December and as the new ELMS scheme hasn't been finalised, I have been offered an extension for a further 5 years.

Now, although I am happy to oblige to save another forest being chopped down for the monotonous paperwork that these schemes produce, I do feel that when I signed on year one the payment rate was acceptable............ but without an index linked inflation for our proposed extension, by year 10 the business will be several thousands of pounds worse off each year and at a time when the SFP will also be reduced.

Is anyone else in the same boat as me ? I don't want to agree on the extension and jeapardise other farmers that have agreements running out.


For the record, the land in question is an SSSI so I can not just walk away from a nature agreement.

When were you offered this? My HLS runs out in March next year and I've been trying to get an answer out of NE for months about whether they would renew it. Their last suggest was that they would probably just keep rolling it on with continuous 12 month agreements.

 

[Wooly]

When were you offered this? My HLS runs out in March next year and I've been trying to get an answer out of NE for months about whether they would renew it. Their last suggest was that they would probably just keep rolling it on with continuous 12 month agreements.

You are on the old HLS scheme...............not CSS !! I was offered an extension to our CSS scheme last week.

I have also got a HLS scheme that runs out in July, but have applied to be in the CSS scheme. That won't start until !/!/2021. 6 months without any income due to every scheme now starting on January !st................ but on the plus side, 6 months that some fresh faced college graduate can't tell us we are doing it all wrong !!

 

[farmerm]

My 5 year CSS is due to come to an end this December and as the new ELMS scheme hasn't been finalised, I have been offered an extension for a further 5 years.

Now, although I am happy to oblige to save another forest being chopped down for the monotonous paperwork that these schemes produce, I do feel that when I signed on year one the payment rate was acceptable............ but without an index linked inflation for our proposed extension, by year 10 the business will be several thousands of pounds worse off each year and at a time when the SFP will also be reduced.

Is anyone else in the same boat as me ? I don't want to agree on the extension and jeapardise other farmers that have agreements running out.


For the record, the land in question is an SSSI so I can not just walk away from a nature agreement.

How did you get a 5 year offer? I only got a 1 year extension offer which I declined?

Looking at a new mid tier application... already hit a hiccup.

"you must include your SSSI or SM land parcel(s) with appropriate CS management options or your application will be rejected. (The only exception is if you have confirmation in writing from Natural England or Historic England, to show the site is under favourable management. This means you can apply without options on the SSSI or SM land parcels.)"

We have a geological SSSI along a brook, the brook, woodland/scrub alongside have several parcel numbers. There are no appropriate mid tier CS management options I can see. So I need a letter from Natural England to show the site is under favorable management which I believe to be "leave it alone"?

 

[Wooly]

How did you get a 5 year offer? I only got a 1 year extension offer which I declined?

Apparently my soon to be expired CSS was fairly unique and took all the brains from Natural England to work out a solution.

Two fields were in GS14, which are for 10 years and not the usual 5 years and still under the EU budget. These fields couldn't be taken out of the agreement and transfered to the English payment system, so the other few hundred acres were extended for 5 years !