NFU calls for an end to delays with environmental stewardship scheme

The NFU has praised farmers for embracing the Environmental Stewardship Scheme but has called on Defra to make significant improvements on the application process.

So far farmers have made Environmental Stewardship applications on more than one million hectares of land with more than 6,000 farmers taking up the Entry Level Scheme (ELS).

However, take up rates have been hindered by problems associated with supplying ELS application forms and continued delays in the implementation of the Higher Level Scheme (HLS) which has threatened to delay the start date of the first traunche of agreements.

NFU deputy president Peter Kendall said: "I am pleased that more than 6,000 farmers have managed to sign up to this scheme but I am extremely disappointed by ongoing delays. We are in very real danger of losing momentum unless the painfully slow ELS application process is streamlined and the HLS introduced at the earliest possible date. Frustration is building among farmers who have already fulfilled the requirements of these schemes at significant cost and effort but whose applications are stalling further up the line.

"In the mean time I would ask Defra to manually process all HLS applications which have been submitted on time and to use the delay to simplify the application process. The Farm Environment Plan which farmers are required to fill out as part of their applications is simply too detailed, too costly and in some parts irrelevant."