Farmers still awaiting details of Countryside Stewardship mid-tier extensions are being urged to contact the Rural Payments agency sooner rather than later. More than 5000 farmers with Countryside Stewardship mid-tier agreements due to expire at the end of December are being offered one-year extensions to maintain environmental and food-production activities.
NFU deputy president David Exwood said: “It means that agreement holders will be able to continue delivering everything from wildflower corridors and habitats for farmland birds to nurturing species-rich grassland.”
Announced on 15 October, the extension aims to ensure continuity of support as the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes continue to evolve. It applies to agreements ending on 31 December 2025.
Funding gap
Eligible farmers are being contacted directly by the Rural Payments Agency with details of how to accept their extension offers. The NFU says farmers who haven’t heard anything by 6 November should contact the RPA. The extension is expected to be worth about £70m shared among more than 5,000 farmers. More than 77,000 agri-environment agreements are now live. Together, they cover an estimated 4.3m hectares, roughly half of England’s arable and pasture land.
The Country Land and Business Association said the extension was a welcome step that would provide short-term relief for thousands of farmers. But it did not address longer-term uncertainty.
CLA president Victoria Vyvyan said: “Without this extension, thousands of farmers will face a funding gap that puts livelihoods and years of environmental progress at risk.”
But she added: “We continue to call for urgent clarity on the future of the Sustainable Farming Incentive to provide certainty and stability for the sector and ensure farmers can continue their efforts to restore nature and farm sustainably.”
Commitment
The CLA team was informed about the SFI redesign principles for 2026 earlier this year, said Ms Vyvyan. She added: “It is now urgent that Labour sets out the SFI scheme to the end of this parliament.”
Farm minister Angela Eagle said the government was backing farmers with the largest investment in nature-friendly farming in history – underpinning a “cast-iron commitment to food security”.
She added: “This targeted extension to Countryside Stewardship mid-tier agreements ensures farmers have the certainty and support they need to continue to grow their businesses, get more British food on our plates, and help restore nature.”