Rural Business - Environmental schemes
There are a number of environmental grant schemes available for rural businesses. These focus principally on farming businesses and are funded through England Rural Development Programme (ERDP) and the Welsh Assembly Government.
Berrys currently operate throughout England and Wales working closely with farmers and estate managers to help design and implement schemes.
The ERDP schemes are primarily land-based and include:
- Environmental Stewardship
- Countryside Stewardship Scheme
- Energy Crops Scheme
- Environmentally Sensitive Areas
- English Woodland Grant Scheme (including Farm Woodland Payments)
- Organic Farming
In Wales the main scheme is Tir Cynnal which provides flat rate payments over a farm in return for certain environmental management requirements.
Our goal at Berrys is to help you plan, manage and run your business more effectively in today’s changing farming climate. We offer a scheme planning service to help you maximise the grants available.
The most popular schemes at present are the Environmental Stewardship Schemes. These include:
- Entry Level Stewardship (ELS)
- Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) and
- Organic Entry Level
Nationally over 21,000 ELS agreements have already been issued and Berrys specialist staff are fully aware of all the options available to ensure that you reach the required points level. The ELS pays £30 per ha over the whole farm in return for the delivery of a series of selected options. The agreement lasts for 5 years.
The Higher Level scheme is more complex but the rewards are greater with some of the arable options paying up to £700 per ha and grassland options paying up to £590 per ha. The scheme is scored by DEFRA so good independent advice is essential to maximise options and income whilst meeting local environmental targets. Every HLS application has to be accompanied by a Farm Environment Plan which can only be completed by trained specialist consultants. Berrys are fully qualified to deliver these plans.
The full range of agri-environment services provided by Berrys includes:
Environmental Compliance Checks
Legislation – Water Framework Directive, NVZ’s, Farm Waste
Management
Compliance Policy Statement
Farm Assurance
Cross Compliance – including Soil Protection Review
Environmental Stewardship Opportunities
Entry Level Scheme applications
Farm Environment Plans
Higher Level Scheme applications
Tir Cynnal & Tir Gofal Schemes
Management Plans
Manure Management
Nutrient Management
Crop Protection Management
Soil Management
Landscape Appraisals
Landscape Character Assessments
Landscape design schemes
Business Development
Linking environment to farm business objectives
Alternative sources of income
Cost / benefit analysis
Environmental tourism
Alternative energy and recycling
For more information, please contact James Fulton - 01536 532386 or jmf@berrybros.com
