Skip to main content
Muker barns Muker barns in the hay meadows

Agri-environment Schemes

We offer a first stop service for farmers and landowners on both the old and the new agri-environment schemes and work closely with Natural England who advise on the Government’s agri-environment schemes. Supporting farmers and landowners to continue to deliver a range of public benefits through national agri-environment scheme agreements is one of the objectives agreed by the Authority and a wide range of local partner organisations in the National Park Management Plan 2019-24.

Most recently, at the end of July 2022, the “New Farming Policies and Payments in England” booklet was released, which you can read here.

“Food is still the primary purpose of farming, and always will be”…”This means introducing new policies that work for farm businesses, food production and the environment”

Defra (2022)- New Farming Policies and Payments in England.

This document explains the new approach for agricultural payments in the future including one-off grants for things such as improved productivity, capital items, animal health & welfare or the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme; as well as ongoing payments such as Countryside Stewardship, the new Environmental Land Management Scheme, and the new entrant support scheme. There is also a list of contacts for specific advice and helplines such as the Defra Rural Service Helpline and Farming Help.

Find out more about;

Take a look at content from our previous CS and ELMs events, and also check out our farm events page for any upcoming meetings.

How we can help

We can help with…

  • Free advice visits to explain the range of national and regional grants available and how to apply for them.
  • Help with all aspects of the Countryside Stewardship scheme application process and the different levels of the Scheme. There may be a charge associated with some of this work but please contact us to find out how we can help.
  • If you are interested in applying for a Water Capital Grant you may need to have your application endorsed by the Catchment Sensitive Farming Officer (CSFO) and inside the National Park Boundary we are the acting CSFOs. Please contact us.
  • We can also help people who are having difficulty with accessing any of the information.

You could also subscribe to Defra’s Future Farming blog to receive direct updates from Defra.

Contact us

Please contact us by: