Countryside Stewardship: Wildlife Offers explained
There are four Wildlife Offers available through Countryside Stewardship in 2021 which will help you support wildlife on your farm.
You can choose from the following:
- Arable Offer
- Lowland Offer
- Mixed Grazing Offer (covered in another article which can be accessed here)
- Upland Offer
The Offers group selected management options together to benefit birds, pollinators and other farm wildlife to thrive and breed successfully.
The Benefits for Wildlife will be:
- Sources of nectar and pollen for insect pollinators
- Winter food for seed-eating birds
- Improved habitats, especially for farmland birds and pollinators.
These Offers are non-competitive and as long as the base requirements are achieved in the application process you will be awarded an agreement.
Here is the Arable Offer explained:
- 20 options available
- Divided into 3 categories
- At least one option required from each category
Category 1; options-select at least 1, minimum of 1% of the farmed land within the agreement-no maximum
Category 2; must select this option, minimum of 2% of the farmed land in the agreement-no maximum
Category 3; select at least 1 option from the 17 available, no minimum requirement
- Payment rates from £100/ha to £640/ha
- Management of hedgerows £8 per 100 metres
- Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings £3.25 per m2
Lowland Offer explained:
- 11 options available
- Divided into 3 categories
- A minimum of 2 options, 1 from category 1 and 1 from category 2, with additional options from category 3
Category 1; options-select at least 1, minimum of 2% of the farmed land within the agreement-no maximum
Category 2; minimum 500m of BE3 or 1 ha of GS1 per 100ha of farmed land within the agreement
Category 3; 7 additional options
- Payment rates from £30/ha to £365/ha
- Management of hedgerows £8 per 100 metres
Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings £3.25 per m2
Finally, let’s look more closely at the Upland Offer;
- 13 options available
Divided into 2 categories (base options and supplements)
A minimum of 3 options, 1 base option and 2 supplements; or 2 base options and 1 supplement; or 3 base options. - UP2 option only available on land parcels within a Less Favoured Area and identified as being in a High Priority area for upland breeding birds.
Supplements can only be used with base options.
- Payment rates from £16/ha to £88/ha
- Management of hedgerows £8 per 100 metres
- Maintenance of weatherproof traditional farm buildings £3.25/m2-Maintenance of weatherproof farm buildings in remote areas £6.73/m2
To understand how the these Offers would work on your farm please contact Alan Falshaw now, Farm Business Consultant on 07425 186127.
