Fears for Northumberland's upland farmers after support delayed

A long-awaited overhaul to the vital countryside stewardship (CS) ‘higher tier’ scheme will not be available until next summer following several delays under the previous Government.

The CS higher tier will offer farmers payments for actions that protect, restore or enhance the environment, with measures including managing woodland and managing lakes and rivers.

Hill farmers typically receive lower incomes than their lowland counterparts. Government figures give the average farm business income for hill farms as just £23,500.

Tom Lancaster, land, food and farming analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, warned that any further delay to the scheme could be catastrophic.

He said: “Hill farmers are often not rich and are less likely to be affected by changes to inheritance tax, but delays to new Government schemes could have an outsized negative impact on their livelihoods. The Countryside Stewardship higher-tier scheme has been repeatedly delayed under previous governments.

“Any further delays will put hill farmers finances in jeopardy. British people are concerned by the state of British nature and many hill farmers are keen to get on with the job of restoring it, locking up carbon emissions as they do.”

Northumberland is home to a significant number of hill farmers – Northumberland National Park alone has 256 farms within or partially within its borders, many of which are hill farms.

Conservative councillor Mark Mather, who represents the Wooler ward on Northumberland County Council, is a farmer and the deputy chairman of the Northumberland National Park. He explained the confusion felt by those in the sector and stressed the importance of farmers to the county’s landscapes.

Coun Mather said: “Nobody is quite sure what is going on. The Uplands don’t have the access to the amount of grants most farmers do because you can’t decide to grow a load of wild flowers on the side of the Cheviot.

“One of the national park’s key priorities is to keep people living and working in the national park. Farmers are the heart of the community and this isn’t helping us.

“During events like Storm Arwen, it is farmers that clear the roads of snow and fallen trees. It’s our children in the schools. This area looks like it does because it’s farmed – the hedges, the different coloured fields, the different livestock.

“It will lose its character. We’re so lucky with the diversity of our farmers we have in Northumberland, especially on the hill farms – but we need to make sure they’re supported.”

Responding to the concerns raised, a spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “The Government’s commitment to our farmers remains steadfast, which is why we are making sure our schemes work for farmers who have too often been ignored, such as upland farms, including through the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme.

“Over 67,000 agreements for our Environmental Land Management Schemes are already live and we have committed £5billion to the farming budget over two years – the largest budget for sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history.”