Guidance

Funding for farmers

You can apply for money to improve the environment while producing high quality food and other products if you’re a farmer, land manager, forester or horticulturist.

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Rural Payments Agency
Published
9 March 2022

Applies to England

Environmental land management funding

You can apply for funding to manage your land in an environmentally sustainable way. This is sometimes referred to as environmental land management.

Producing cleaner water and air

You can apply for money from the Sustainable Farming Incentive from 2022 to help:

  • build better storage of water and carbon (arable and horticultural soils standard)
  • reduce levels of sediment, nutrients and chemical pollution in water (improved grassland soils standard)
  • reduce greenhouse gas emissions (improved grassland soils standard)
  • create better biodiversity - this means more types of animals and plants (improved grassland soils standard)
  • reduce risk of flooding, erosion and run-off (arable and horticultural soils standard and improved grassland soils standard)
  • restore peatlands (moorland and rough grazing standard)

Protecting native species and improving rivers

You can apply for the first round of Landscape Recovery funding to support large, long-term landscape and ecosystem restoration projects. For example:

  • restore wilder landscapes
  • create and plant woodland
  • support peatlands and salt marshes

Defra will select up to 15 projects for project development funding in 2022, and will fund more projects in 2023 and 2024.

Managing habitats, woodlands and flood risk

You can apply for Countryside Stewardship to get paid to look after and improve the environment. For example:

  • conserve and restore wildlife habitats
  • manage flood risk
  • manage woodlands
  • reduce widespread water pollution from agriculture
  • keep the character of the countryside
  • preserve historical features in the landscape
  • encourage educational access

You can apply until 2023 (for agreements starting in 2024).

You will be able to apply for Local Nature Recovery funding to get paid for things that help the local environment. For example:

  • manage and restore habitats
  • plant trees and manage woodlands
  • restore peatlands
  • use natural flood management techniques

Defra will trial it with land managers from 2023. All eligible applicants can apply from the end of 2024.

If you are already paid by the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)

You can apply for funding from any of these schemes even if you get paid by the BPS. You will still receive BPS funding but it will decrease every year until 2027.

From 2024, ‘delinked’ payments will replace BPS. This means you will no longer have to farm your land to get paid. Read guidance on delinked payments and how they will be calculated.

Trees, animal health, slurry and protected landscape funding

Trees

You can get paid to plant trees and create woodland through the England Woodland Creation Offer on areas that are at least 1 hectare.

You can apply for tree health funding through the pilot scheme if you manage certain trees or woodlands affected by some pests and diseases in some regions of England.

You can also get help with woodland creation, maintenance, management and tree health.

Animals

You can register and trace multi-species livestock on the Livestock Information Programme.

You can get help reducing the incidence and severity of bovine TB breakouts from the Bovine TB Advisory Service.

The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway provides funding to help improve the health and welfare of animals. You can apply from 2022.

Slurry investment

From Autumn 2022, you will be able to apply for grants to support investment in slurry systems including for slurry stores and store covers. This will be part of the expanded Farming Investment Fund.

Protected landscapes

Farming in protected landscapes funding is open to all farmers and land managers within:

  • an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
  • a National Park in England
  • the Norfolk Broads

Innovation, technology, research and development funding

You can apply for:

You can also apply for funding during the early years of the agricultural transition and get free business advice to help you plan for the future.

Research and innovation

The Farming Innovation Programme is made up of 3 funds:

Joining farming

The New Entrant Support Scheme aims to encourage new starters into farming. Defra plans to run a pilot for this scheme from 2022 to 2023.

Leaving farming

The Lump Sum Exit Scheme will help farmers in England who choose to leave farming.

Once you receive a lump sum payment, you will not be eligible for any further BPS payments or delinked payments.

You will also not be eligible to enter into new agreements under the following schemes unless you repay the lump sum first:

Get help with farm funding

You can get help understanding what funding you can apply for from:

You can also get support and advice from:

Published 9 March 2022
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