Government injects £343 million of funding into the rural economy
last week, benefiting more than 31,000 farmers.
The Government has today confirmed it has injected more than £343
million into the rural economy in the first week of December,
benefiting more than 31,000 farmers.
This includes payments worth £223 million to Countryside
Stewardship revenue customers and £74 million to Environmental
Stewardship customers, administered by the Rural Payments Agency
(RPA).
The Government is providing over £5 billion to the farming budget
– the largest ever increase investment in sustainable food
production in our country's history. To further support farmers
Ministers have today announced new details on how
farmers will benefit from improved and optimised farming schemes.
A new and improved Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier
(CSHT) scheme will open in 2025, providing new quarterly
payments designed to improve farmers' cashflow and a rolling
application window so customers can apply throughout the
year.
It also includes new actions to improve flood
resilience and species abundance and important funding to
secure enhanced environmental benefits and deliver for nature
recovery, including sensitive areas such as Sites of Special
Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said:
Our commitment to farmers is steadfast.
That is why this Government is working hard to get money into
farmers bank accounts as well as announcing today how farmers can
benefit from the new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme,
with more flexible actions, improved payments to help cashflow
and a rolling application window.
It's part of our £5 billion farming budget over two years - the
largest ever directed at sustainable food production in our
country's history.
As we set out our Plan for Change, we are focused on supporting
our farmers, supporting rural economics growth and boosting
Britain's food security.
Rural Payments Agency Chief Executive Paul Caldwell said:
Our farmers are the heartbeat of the nation's rural economy, and
RPA remains focused on supporting them by getting payments into
bank accounts as quickly as possible.
I am very pleased that this December we have been able to inject
more funding than ever from environmental schemes into the rural
economy.
This comes at the same time as providing more certainty over the
details in Higher Tier offer to enable farmers to see for
themselves how it can benefit them.
CSHT will open through an initial controlled roll out to ensure
everyone gets the necessary support. Initially, applications will
be by invitation – on a rolling monthly basis.
We are also publishing an additional 14 Sustainable Farming
Incentive (SFI) endorsed actions, further improving the offer.
These will be available from summer 2025 to enable farmers and
land managers to contribute further benefits to Grassland,
Heritage, and Coastal sites, among others.
Further payments made in December include £39 million under SFI,
as part of the quarterly payments system designed to improve
farmers' cashflow and a further £7.4 million has been paid to
customers who have completed Capital Grants
works.
As part of its New Deal for Farmers, the Government will set up a
new British Infrastructure Council to steer private investment in
rural areas including broadband rollout in our rural
communities.
We are also developing a 25-year farming roadmap, focusing on how
to make the sector more profitable in the decades to come.
Farmers and land managers are stewards of the environment, and we
will continue to invest in them to make their businesses, food
production and our country more sustainable and resilient through
Environmental Land Management.
Further details on CSHT will be published on gov.uk later today
(11 December).
