Issued by: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and Rural Payments Agency

Government injects £343 million of funding into the rural economy last week, benefiting more than 31,000 farmers.

The Government has today confirmed it has injected more than £343 million into the rural economy in the first week of December, benefiting more than 31,000 farmers.

This includes payments worth £223 million to Countryside Stewardship revenue customers and £74 million to Environmental Stewardship customers, administered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).

The Government is providing over £5 billion to the farming budget – the largest ever increase investment in sustainable food production in our country’s history. To further support farmers Ministers have today announced new details on how farmers will benefit from improved and optimised farming schemes.

A new and improved Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) scheme will open in 2025, providing new quarterly payments designed to improve farmers’ cashflow and a rolling application window so customers can apply throughout the year.

It also includes new actions to improve flood resilience and species abundance and important funding to secure enhanced environmental benefits and deliver for nature recovery, including sensitive areas such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed said:

"Our commitment to farmers is steadfast.

"That is why this Government is working hard to get money into farmers bank accounts as well as announcing today how farmers can benefit from the new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme, with more flexible actions, improved payments to help cashflow and a rolling application window.

"It’s part of our £5 billion farming budget over two years - the largest ever directed at sustainable food production in our country’s history.

"As we set out our Plan for Change, we are focused on supporting our farmers, supporting rural economics growth and boosting Britain’s food security."

Rural Payments Agency Chief Executive Paul Caldwell said:

"Our farmers are the heartbeat of the nation’s rural economy, and RPA remains focused on supporting them by getting payments into bank accounts as quickly as possible.

"I am very pleased that this December we have been able to inject more funding than ever from environmental schemes into the rural economy.

"This comes at the same time as providing more certainty over the details in Higher Tier offer to enable farmers to see for themselves how it can benefit them."

CSHT will open through an initial controlled roll out to ensure everyone gets the necessary support. Initially, applications will be by invitation – on a rolling monthly basis.

We are also publishing an additional 14 Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) endorsed actions, further improving the offer. These will be available from summer 2025 to enable farmers and land managers to contribute further benefits to Grassland, Heritage, and Coastal sites, among others.

Further payments made in December include £39 million under SFI, as part of the quarterly payments system designed to improve farmers’ cashflow and a further £7.4 million has been paid to customers who have completed Capital Grants works.

As part of its New Deal for Farmers, the Government will set up a new British Infrastructure Council to steer private investment in rural areas including broadband rollout in our rural communities.

We are also developing a 25-year farming roadmap, focusing on how to make the sector more profitable in the decades to come.

Farmers and land managers are stewards of the environment, and we will continue to invest in them to make their businesses, food production and our country more sustainable and resilient through Environmental Land Management.

Further details on CSHT will be published on gov.uk later today (11 December).

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