Countryside Stewardship open for applications for agreements to start in 2023

[Janet Hughes Defra]

Morning all - Just sharing for info this post from RPA colleagues about this year's Countryside Stewardship offer, for agreements to start next year - applications open from now until July https://ruralpayments.blog.gov.uk/2...stewardship-scheme-now-open-for-applications/

You can apply for both SFI and CS this year, so long as we are not paying you for the same things twice and the actions are compatible. We'll publish more details about the rules around this shortly.

 

[Pan mixer]

Morning all - Just sharing for info this post from RPA colleagues about this year's Countryside Stewardship offer, for agreements to start next year - applications open from now until July https://ruralpayments.blog.gov.uk/2...stewardship-scheme-now-open-for-applications/

You can apply for both SFI and CS this year, so long as we are not paying you for the same things twice and the actions are compatible. We'll publish more details about the rules around this shortly.

I would really like them to pay me for last year so that I can pay my rent.

 

[CornishTone]

I'd love to know the status of my CS agreement that, allegedly, started on Jan 1st.

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

@Janet Hughes Defra im still waiting to be paid for both revenue and a substantial capital- it really puts me off applying for any more schemes be it countryside stewardship or sfi. you have been running countryside stewardship for many years and still cant pay people on time, what hope do we have with sfi.

 

[gone up the hill]

@Janet Hughes Defra im still waiting to be paid for both revenue and a substantial capital- it really puts me off applying for any more schemes be it countryside stewardship or sfi. you have been running countryside stewardship for many years and still cant pay people on time, what hope do we have with sfi.

How long have you been waiting for the capital cash?

 

[gone up the hill]

I'd love to know the status of my CS agreement that, allegedly, started on Jan 1st.

100's if not thousands of farmers in the same boat!

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

How long have you been waiting for the capital cash?

6 months

 

[gone up the hill]

6 months

Wow, what capital works did you do?

 

[dirty harry]

Same here, still waiting to hear about this year’s acceptance? Only supposed to start 6 weeks ago- Very frustrating !!

 

[ajcc]

Morning all - Just sharing for info this post from RPA colleagues about this year's Countryside Stewardship offer, for agreements to start next year - applications open from now until July https://ruralpayments.blog.gov.uk/2...stewardship-scheme-now-open-for-applications/

You can apply for both SFI and CS this year, so long as we are not paying you for the same things twice and the actions are compatible. We'll publish more details about the rules around this shortly.

Mine finished ten years ago but we still have pending court appearances.
@Janet Hughes Defra . It’s a NO from me. Honesty,openness and transparency need addressing first.

 

[Oscar]

Another one waiting for a decision for 2021 !!

 

[Pan mixer]

Some kind of magic working here, if it was anything to do with you @Janet Hughes Defra I thank you mightily.

One of my 2 payments came through this morning.

 

[Rob Holmes]

Excuse me if I’m being particularly dim, but I can’t find anything about Mid tier options or Wildlife offers, are they yet to be published or are we to use last years offers and rates?
….or am I looking in the wrong place?

 

[ajcc]

Mine finished ten years ago but we still have pending court appearances.
@Janet Hughes Defra . It’s a NO from me. Honesty,openness and transparency need addressing first.

Read my lips Natural England.....I do not wish to be in your ridiculous scheme. Please stop harassing honest farmers.

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

Excuse me if I’m being particularly dim, but I can’t find anything about Mid tier options or Wildlife offers, are they yet to be published or are we to use last years offers and rates?
….or am I looking in the wrong place?

Is this what you're looking for? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/country...nts-starting-on-1-january-2023/1-introduction

 

[Rob Holmes]

Is this what you're looking for? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/country...nts-starting-on-1-january-2023/1-introduction

Thank you, for some reason I couldn’t find it

 

[AnnaMooMoo]

Can anyone tell me in the SFI intermediate soil standards, how many soil organic matter samples need to be done per Ha or per parcel?
My farm moves from pure greensand- to sandy loam to chalk to clay and to peat in about a 400m distance.
Who defines the sample locations?

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

Can anyone tell me in the SFI intermediate soil standards, how many soil organic matter samples need to be done per Ha or per parcel?
My farm moves from pure greensand- to sandy loam to chalk to clay and to peat in about a 400m distance.
Who defines the sample locations?

We'll be publishing guidance on this before we open the scheme for applications this year and I'll post it all here when it's published

 

[teslacoils]

I was well up for reapplying as my mid tier is due to end this December. But as I've not been paid yet for the claim I made ten months ago on a scheme that hasn't actually changed, I'm mildly pee'd off to say the least.

It's disappointing really, as the rates have been improved, and we have a long history of successful stewardship. My claim is fairly modest at c£8k.

 

[Two Tone]

Dear @Janet Hughes Defra ,
I get what you are trying to do for us, especially on TFF and sympathise with you for a lot of the misunderstanding that turns into frustration by some members that rebounds on you.
For me, the penny seems to have dropped and I now see the reasoning behind such things as SFI, why and how it is funded and that as BPS payments reduce, SFI payment rates will increase, etc.
I am (was!!) even thinking of applying for SFI on this farm shortly………….!

However………
This farm is now in its 2nd 5 year Mid Tier Stewardship scheme, starting 1st January 2022. Though we didn’t actually officially hear we were accepted in it until April!
On the whole, I’ve been pleased with Stewardship and it suits this farm very well. Former Natural England staff were very helpful and encouraging. Certainly far more so than Defra Staff, who seem to want to trip you up or find problems that don’t and have never existed.
You will know that Natural England was absorbed into Defra a couple of years ago.
It seems that every time we fill in our CS application forms for the May 15th deadline, they seem to find something wrong with it that requires extra work and investing my end and ALWAYS results in there being no problem at all.

One of the things that has impressed me about ELMs has been the more relaxed attention towards it. Encouragement rather than ‘hitting us over the head with a stick’ attitude.
I was hoping that this might bleed over into the latest CS side of things, with less pointless questions after an annual application is presented.
Sadly not!

Yesterday at 6.00 pm, Friday 26th August evening at the start of the August Bank holiday Weekend, I received an email from a Mr Kenny McLoughlin (CS Operations) asking for the location of our Rotational options, demanding that he receives this information by 1st September and threatening that if this information isn’t received by him on September 1st, that said Rotational options be removed from payment this year.
No where on the Application form did it ask for the locations of Rotational options, or have they ever been asked for previously. All we needed to do was confirm that they are in existing, as proved by our BPS applications as to what is one each land parcel each year.

How can it be right that such a demand is made that allowing just 2 working days (Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st August) to provide an answer?

What would have happened if I had been away or had just suffered the heart attack I suffered from 5 weeks ago?Caused I might add by Stress, brought on by the additional worries we farmers have at losing BPS, etc, etc.

Fortunately, I had all the information at hand that Mr McLoughlin requires and was able to locate, check and send it to him in 2 emails by 8.30 pm yesterday evening. Allowing me to take this first weekend since God know when off from work!

It isn’t right to demand such actions in such a ridiculously short time, @Janet Hughes Defra, is it?
Defra must get its house in order, or you will continue to have a lot of very frustrated farmers mis-trusting anything Defra proposes.