The new Environmental Stewardship Scheme will be central to the biggest change to farming for a generation, Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett said at the scheme's launch today.

Under the Scheme, for the first time, every farmer in England will be able to earn payments for undertaking environmental protection and enhancement work on their land.

Together with the new single payment and cross-compliance, Environmental Stewardship will mark a watershed in the way England is farmed.

Farmers will earn money for work such as looking after hedgerows to provide habitat for birds and small mammals, creating wildflower plots for bees and other beneficial insects and protecting ponds from pesticides and fertilisers to encourage for wildlife such as frogs and newts. This work will help to reduce the decline in wild bird populations, cut pollution and increase all forms of wildlife on farms.

Environmental Stewardship, developed in close conjunction with
environmental and farming organisations, is also a key component of the Government's Sustainable Strategy for Farming and Food, announced two years ago by Sir Don Curry.

The 'broad and shallow' style recommended by the Policy Commission will form the 'entry level' element of the new Scheme.

Mrs Beckett explained that Entry Level Stewardship will enable farmers to earn up to £30 a hectare for delivering straightforward, yet effective, work such as maintaining hedgerows, leaving conservation strips around fields and creating beetle banks.

Mrs Beckett said:

"This is a real red-letter day for English farming. Every farmer can now be rewarded for protecting and enhancing the environment. With the wider CAP reforms, we are making good progress towards ensuring farming is truly sustainable. "The more farmers that become involved, the greater the benefit to the environment. Reversing the long term decline in farmland birds, for example, requires action to improve habitats over wide areas.

"Farmers will also be pleased to hear that the Scheme has been designed so the application process is as straightforward as possible and those that wish to can apply over the internet," she added.

Sir Don Curry said:

"This launch is a milestone in delivering one of the key recommendations of the Policy Commission report. It represents a fundamental step in farmers committing themselves to sound environmental management. It is essential that as many farmers as possible participate in the schemes, not only to demonstrate we have accepted our responsibilities but to make the most of this additional stream of income, which is available for every farm business."

The other two elements of Environmental Stewardship take things a step further by featuring organic and 'higher level' components.

Organic Entry Level Stewardship offers organic management options for land which is registered as fully organic or in conversion to organic farming with the Organic Inspection Body approved by Defra. It provides payments of up to £60 per hectare annually for land entered into the Scheme.

Higher Level Stewardship has been designed to target local environmental priorities and will build on Entry Level or Organic Entry Level Stewardship. It offers a wide range of land management options linked to specific environmental features.

Through these three elements, Environmental Stewardship will continue to develop the work carried out under Countryside Stewardship and Environmentally Sensitive Area Schemes and Organic Farming Schemes.

Its objectives include the conservation of wildlife, enhancement of landscape character, protection of the historic environment and natural resources and promotion of public access to, and understanding of, the countryside.

Environmental Stewardship is expected to require the current budget of £150m a year for environmental land management to be more than doubled within the next few years.

The Scheme itself will be delivered by the Rural Development Service working with Defra's partner organisations and agencies.
Application packs are available from Rural Development Service regional offices and further details of the Scheme are on line at www.defra.gov.uk/erdp/schemes/es/default.htm

BACKGROUND

1. Environmental Stewardship is a new scheme under the England Rural Development Programme (ERDP).

2. As well as many other benefits Environmental Stewardship will help meet two government targets:
* Getting 95% of Sites of Special Scientific Interest into favourable condition by 2010;
* Reversing the long-term decline in farmland birds by 2020

3. The Rural Development Service will be able to accept either on-line or paper applications for Entry Level Stewardship. Organic Entry Level Stewardship applications must be made by post. There will be quarterly start dates for agreements.

4. To enter Environmental Stewardship, farmers and land managers must have registered the land on the Rural Land Register (RLR) with the Rural Payments Agency. Land claimed only under an open England Rural Development Programme (ERDP) scheme agreement is being recorded on the RLR and no action is necessary. Additional agricultural or non-agricultural land, not claimed under Integrated Administration and Control Scheme (IACS) or under a live ERDP scheme will need to be registered.

5. The ERDP provides a framework for the operation of separate but integrated schemes which provide new opportunities to protect and improve the countryside, to develop sustainable enterprises and to help rural communities to thrive. As well as Environmental Stewardship, the schemes (and a brief outline of their aims) are:

• Hill Farm Allowance Scheme (supporting sustainable farming in the English hills).

• Woodland Grant and Farm Woodland Premium Schemes (encouraging planting of new woodland and maintenance of existing woodland).

• Energy Crops Scheme (encouraging renewable energy production).

• Rural Enterprise Scheme (supporting a diversified and enterprising rural economy).

• Vocational Training Scheme (improving occupational skills of farmers).

• Processing and Marketing Grant (improving agricultural processing and marketing infrastructure).

6. A total of £1.6 billion of EU and Government money is being made available under these schemes in England during the 7 years (2000 to 2006) of the Programme.

7. For more information on any of the schemes in the ERDP, contact your local Rural Development Service office or visit the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk.

8. Environmental Stewardship will be delivered by the Rural Development Service which, with the administration of a multi-million pound grant budget, is the single largest organisation working for the benefit of rural areas in England.

The Rural Development Service, the largest deliverer of England Rural Development Programme (ERDP) schemes and a range of other rural services, has multi-skilled teams of around 1500 staff working in eight regions across England and works with rural partners and local people to achieve:

• Environmental enhancement

• Better conservation of wildlife and biodiversity

• Stronger rural economies and communities.

9. As part of Rural Strategy 2004, Defra has reviewed its funding streams for rural areas. The Department is committed to reducing the current range of schemes and programmes to a framework based around three major funds targeted to the three Departmental strategic priorities impacting on rural areas: environmental land management and natural resource protection; sustainable rural communities; and sustainable food and farming. This approach aims to achieve greater simplicity for customers and to improve value for money; it is being implemented progressively, with the final stage to be completed with the roll out of the next rural development programme (2007-2013).
Further details of the funding streams review can be found at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/ruraldelivery/funding/default.htm

10. As part of the programme for Modernising Rural Delivery, the Government plans to create a powerful new agency that will bring together the agri-environment work of the Rural Development Service, English Nature and the Landscape, Access and Recreation division of the Countryside Agency.

The aim of the new agency will be - for the first time ever - to unite in a single organisation the responsibility for enhancing biodiversity and our landscapes in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas with promoting access, recreation and public well-being, so contributing to integrated natural resource management. It will be primarily an environmental organisation, but will operate within a sustainable development context, seeking economic and social benefits where possible.