These farm businesses, many of which are in the hills and uplands, and are custodians of SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and Protected Landscapes, are the caretakers of the countryside and have been delivering for the environment for years.
However, they have been left behind on the transition to ELMs (Environmental Land Management schemes).
That is why the letter is asking Defra to:
- Offer an uplift to HLS agreement rates to properly reward environmental protection, backdated to 1 of January 2025.
- Implement a HLS pathway that enables those who want to join ELMs agreements to do so by January 2027.
- Meet to discuss concerns and how to deliver a platform for a profitable, productive and sustainable farming industry.
Uplift to HLS and pathway for conversion
On the sending of the letter NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “We’re all in common agreement.
“Early adopters of HLS, the farmers at the vanguard of environmental protection who manage some of our most important landscapes for wildlife and biodiversity, must be treated fairly for the work they do.”
“Without this, the country’s most cherished landscapes will look unrecognisable.”
NFU President Tom Bradshaw
Tom noted that while this is important for all farmers, it is especially true for those in the uplands, farming in SSSIs and Protected Landscapes.
“Their incomes have been slashed, many haven’t seen an increase to HLS payment levels for decades and they’re stuck in agreements, unable to convert to ELMs,” he said.
Many HLS agreement holders will have been in environmental schemes for decades, delivering in the uplands, managing SSSIs and across the wider countryside.
Farmers with HLS agreements entered into these agreements many years ago – the last HLS agreement started in 2014. Since then, the payment rates have not changed, yet farmers have seen their income from direct payments reduced.
Natural England has limited capacity to support the new CSHT (Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier) roll out. In 2025/6 NE is aiming to support 700 CSHT agreements. With 6,000 HLS agreements to expire by 2028, this is very concerning.
“At the same time these businesses have been exposed to the same market and weather volatility experienced across the industry and face the threat of inheritance tax changes. They’re being crippled from all angles,” Tom added.
Tom said it was vital Defra delivered an uplift to HLS payments and introduces a successful pathway for conversion, warning that without this “the country’s most cherished landscapes will look unrecognisable”.
View from the uplands
NFU Uplands South chair Mat Cole said questions still remained on how uplands farmers are fairly rewarded under ELMs and how the schemes can be accessed, adding that HLS payments haven’t kept up with inflation – “hill farmers are suffering from horrendous cashflow issues,” he said.
“Despite upland farmers doing the heavy lifting on environmental stewardship, the agricultural transition has left us without the funding we need to continue to protect and preserve the natural environment.
“The government must increase Higher Level Stewardship payments and provide a pathway for farmers moving from old schemes into new ELMs agreements – or they put all the vital work that we do in the uplands at risk.”
NFU Uplands North chair Dave Stanners said uplands farmers in the north are being “pushed further and further into financial difficulty”, at a time when “incomes have been slashed in the agricultural transition”.
He added: “Defra must step up – without a clear, fair, and timely transition in place to new ELMs and an uplift in payments, we will lose family farms in the north that have produced food and protected the environment for generations.
“We are at a crisis in the uplands – an uplift in HLS payments is imperative.”
