Farmers in England will be paid more public money for protecting the environment and producing food more sustainably, the government has said.
It is hoped the increase in payment rates will encourage more farmers to sign up to new environmental land management schemes (ELMS).
ELMS is designed to replace the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP).
Farmers’ union the NFU welcomed the rise but warned it could be “too little too late” in the economic climate.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the new system would put “money into farmers’ pockets” while enhancing nature and driving innovation in agriculture.
The announcement comes amid rises in the cost of food production, with farmers hit particularly hard by increases in the cost of animal feed, fertilizers and fuel.
The increased rates under ELMS will come from existing money, reallocated from the previous direct payment subsidies given to farmers under the EU scheme.
NFU vice president David Exwood said it was still unclear what work farmers – who will be losing direct payments – would actually be paid for under ELMS.
He said: “While some of these latest changes are welcome… it risks being too little too late, especially given the current economic challenges we are experiencing and the rapid erosion of direct payments.”
Concerns had previously been raised that the new nature-friendly payments system would not offer smaller farms enough to stay in business.
Now 30,000 farmers who have signed up to a countryside stewardship scheme – which is being expanded under ELMS – will see an average increase of 10% to the money they receive for ongoing environmental work, such as habitat management.
Bigger, one-off green schemes, such as hedgerow creation, will see an average payment increase of 48%.
