New Environmental Stewardship Options:
Entry Level, Organic Entry Level and Higher Level Stewardship -
Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings – maintaining and protecting these valuable local landscape and historic features.
This option will allow applicants to enter traditional farm buildings built before 1940, into their environmental stewardship application and obtain points based on the floor area of the building. The points available under this option will amount to 2 points per m2.
Mixed stocking (extended to Less Favoured Areas (LFAs)) – maintaining effective grazing of LFA grassland to provide breeding and feeding habitats for farmland birds.
Already an option for areas outside the LFA; this option has been extended into the LFA areas after Defra considered the huge environmental benefits of mixed grazing regimes in the upland areas of the country such as the dales and the North Yorkshire Moors.
Higher Level Stewardship -
Cattle grazing supplement – promoting grazing by cattle to benefit plants, invertebrates and farmland birds.
Native breeds at risk grazing supplement – promoting more wide-spread use of native breeds to graze difficult terrain to achieve conservation objectives.
Further details are available from the Rural Development Service on 0845 602 4096
