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Author: Cooper, Olivia olivia.cooper@rbi.co.ukBuss, Jessica

ENTRY LEVEL STEWARDSHIP

Still considering your Entry Level Stewardship application options? Olivia Cooper finds out some of the options with most potential for livestock producers at a Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group farm walk

MOST FARMS should qualify easily for the Entry Level Stewardship scheme and once the correct maps arrive, the application itself is nothing to be afraid of.

FWAG adviser Roland Stonex told visitors to Bineham City Farm, Knole, Somerset, they should all consider joining ELS. "This is money with your name on it. The sooner you get into the scheme the sooner you start clawing that money back."

The main options likely to appeal to south-west farmers were hedge and ditch maintenance, grassland management and Nutrient, Manure and Soil Management Plans, said FWAG environmental agronomist David Cliffe. "Many farmers will hardly need to change their practices."

This was backed up by Brian Rowe of Chilton Trinity, Devon. "I sent in my ELS application two weeks ago and have mainly used the hedge and ditch options. It was really quite easy to get to the required 30 points/ha, and we won't have to change our management practice much."

Under the scheme rules, each management option carries a certain number of points, and farmers need to average 30 points/ha (12/acre) across the whole farm to qualify.

They will then receive an annual payment of £30/ha (£12/acre) for the scheme's five-year duration. Organic farmers can enter the Organic ELS, which has a points threshold of 60/ha (24/acre) and a payment of £60/ha (£24/acre).

Environmentally sensitive management of hedges and ditches carried up to 56 points/100m, and could even reduce farmers' labour costs, said Mr Stonex. The options require trimming of hedges or ditch sides a maximum of once every two or three years, leaving hedges to grow to 2m high and not applying chemicals or cutting foliage within 1m of the hedge or ditch centre.

It is possible to claim on one or both sides of a hedge or ditch and hedges could still be trimmed annually for safety reasons where they bordered a road, he added. However, ditches may not be dug out more than once every five years -- even to keep them open for drainage."

Another potentially easy option was to leave a 2m, 4m or 6m grass buffer strip around cereal or grassland fields, said Mr Stonex.

This must be in addition to the cross-compliance hedgerow or ditch buffer strip, unless the land is already in Countryside Stewardship.

The grassland buffer option is only available on intensive grassland which normally receives more than 100kg/ha (40kg/acre) of inorganic nitrogen fertiliser a year. The strip can be grazed, but must not receive fertilisers, manure or chemicals other than for spot treatment of injurious weeds. Mowing once to control woody growth is allowed during the five year agreement.

The inner 3m of a 6m buffer strip bordering an arable crop can be cut after mid-July, said Mr Stonex. Buffer strips carry up to 400 points/ha.

Soil, Nutrient, Manure and Crop Protection Plans are paperwork options carrying 2-3 points/ha each.

The Soil Management Plan is designed to help farmers identify ways to reduce the impact of soil erosion and run-off on nearby waterways, roads and properties.

Having identified potential risk areas, farmers can opt for ELS options designed to protect soils from erosion. They may get 18 points/ha (7/acre) for harvesting maize crops by Oct 1 and within two weeks either cultivating the land or establishing a following crop. The same points would be available for ceasing production of maize, potatoes or other root vegetables on high erosion risk fields.

Many farmers were already keeping records on nutrients, manures and pesticides under various farm assurance schemes or the Voluntary Initiative, said Mr Cliffe. "These records can also be used to develop ELS Management Plans, which along with the Soil Plan will contribute almost a third of the points needed to get into ELS."

Currently farmers will still be required to fill out a separate Soil Management Plan under cross-compliance measures.

Unlike the ELS, the HLS is a competitive scheme, without any guarantee of success.

It replaces the Countryside Stewardship Scheme and pays for special land management or capital works. Options are specific and targeted for different regions, and the scheme runs for 10 years.

"You should find out what the government's targets are for your landscape area," advised Mr Stonex.

Another possible option is to enter existing or planned new woodland into the Forestry Commission's woodland grant scheme.

This scheme will pay up to £300/ha (£121/acre) in compensation for losing their single farm payment.

Under the ELS farmers can also claim four points/100m for maintaining boundary fences alongside woodland, even when the wood is not theirs.

PHOTO (COLOR): Hedge and ditch maintenance options are likely to appeal to livestock producers who wish to quality for Entry Level Stewardship, says David Cliffe.

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By Olivia Cooper

Edited by Jessica Buss, 020 8652 4935