Tests and Trials

Nidderdale AONB played a key role in the design of Defra’s new Environmental Land Management scheme (ELM).

Through our participation in one of Defra’s 44 nationwide Test and Trials programmes, we worked with six local farmers to help shape the future of farming in the UK.

Together with our fellow Northern Uplands AONBs, North Pennines and Forest of Bowland, we focused on the process involved in producing land management plans for upland farms which will inform the development of the new ELM scheme.
 

Environmental Land Management

The new ELM will be environment-based, centring on a system of ‘public money for public goods’.  Farmers and landowners will be rewarded for making improvements that benefit the environment, such as nature recovery, flood mitigation and carbon sequestration.

The new scheme is scheduled to roll-out in late 2024, with the current Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) being phased out.  BPS payments are decreasing annually from 2021 and ending completely at the end of 2027. There will also be no new Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) agreements from 2024.

Our project was part of the National Association of AONB’s nationwide ‘Farming for the Nation’ programme, bringing together hundreds of farmers across thousands of acres to test proposed elements of the new ELM system. The project is scheduled to end in June 2021.
 

For more information

To find out more about AONBs joint ‘Farming for the National’ programme,, visit the National Associations of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’s website.