Local Nature Recovery – more detail announced
DEFRA have released more information on the new Local Nature Recovery (LNR) scheme, this being the second arm of the Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS), which is expected to launch in full in 2024.
LNR builds on Countryside Stewardship (CSS) (the scheme it replaces), and along with Landscape Recovery, the third arm of the ELMS, is intended to make a significant contribution to biodiversity, air and water quality and climate change mitigation and adaptation.
LNR will in many ways reflect the existing Countryside Stewardship Scheme:
- Farmers and Land Managers will enter multi-year agreements – there is an emphasis on making the scheme widely accessible to holdings of all types and sizes, with no requirement to include the entire holding – will enter agreements.
- LNR has ‘Options’ that pay for the creation, maintenance, enhancement and support of habitats and other environmental features
- Many options will be lifted directly from Countryside Stewardship, but there will also be new additional options yet to be announced.
- Applicants choose an Option Selection that works for them.
- There may be restrictions on using certain options in some specific settings, with encouragement to use other options where they will have the greatest impact
- Options will receive annual payments
- One-off payments will be available for capital items.
- Payment rates will be calculated to reflect income foregone plus costs
- Payment rates will remain static during an agreement to ensure a predictable income.
However, unlike Countryside Stewardship
- The options should be less prescriptive and more flexible so they work across a range of farm settings.
- Agreements will include flexibility for mid-term changes
- Application windows will be broader.
- Joining up with neighbouring landowners to generate a larger impact will be possible and may be incentivised, but will never be obligatory
Existing CSS agreement holders will be able to transition seamlessly over to an LNR agreement and adopt some of new LNR options into their agreement. Land can be included in both a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement (the first arm of ELMS) and a LNR agreement, as long as the SFI standards and LNR options are compatible, and the same action isn’t paid for twice.
DEFRA advise entering a Countryside Stewardship agreement as a good stepping stone into both the Sustainable Farming Incentive and Local Nature Recovery schemes. The final Countryside Stewardship Application window will open in February 2023, but it is never too early to start to consider the options available. If you would like to have a conversation about Countryside Stewardship, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the team.
A note on Sustainable Farming Incentive
To aid farmers in planning ahead, DEFRA have confirmed that later this year they intend to publish full details of the Sustainable Farming Incentive standards to be made available in 2023, including payment rates.
With SFI now open for applications, albeit in a limited form, if you would like more guidance on this scheme, please do speak to a member of the team.
