With England’s Environmental Land Management Scheme currently closed to new applicants and future funding uncertain, farmers are facing increased uncertainty about how they can sustainably manage their land.
As the agricultural sector gathers in Oxford this week for a major annual conference, concerns are growing that delays to environmental land management (ELM) plans are leaving businesses with no clear path forward to plan for.
The Wildlife Trust’s head of agricultural strategy, Vicki Hurd, said despite widespread industry-wide support for nature-friendly farming approaches, progress had stalled since the arrival of the new ministerial team.
The Sustainable Agriculture Incentive (SFI) was widely seen as the most accessible of the three schemes, but it was suspended in March 2025, causing frustration among farmers who had hoped it would be a reliable source of support.
Farm operations are already under pressure from rising costs, volatile prices and increasingly extreme weather, but this moratorium means funding for many environmental initiatives is currently unavailable.
The Government was right to review the system which needed to be strengthened, but the Wildlife Trust said the process needed to be clearer in the future to avoid a sudden financial cliffhanger for farmers.
Countryside stewardship, which requires higher levels of environmental commitment, remains limited by budget constraints and management capacity and is not open to all farmers.
Extending existing agreements has been welcomed as a way to prevent funding shortfalls for companies that are already achieving more ambitious outcomes, but questions remain about long-term continuity and wider access.
Landscape restoration plans are designed to support large-scale projects involving multiple land managers and can have significant benefits for nature restoration and flood management.
However, concerns about complex contracts and uncertainty around long-term funding risk undermining confidence in schemes that rely on cooperation and long-term commitment.
All three ELM schemes are closed to new applications, leaving farmers and landowners without a clear framework for investment and business planning.
While Defra has been successful in protecting the overall agricultural budget, campaigners have warned that funding levels remain insufficient to meet the government’s own legally binding environmental targets.
An independent analysis published in 2024 on behalf of the Wildlife Trust, RSPB and National Trust concluded that nature-friendly farming and land management in England requires at least £3.1 billion a year, compared to an average spend of £2.5 billion, a difference that is likely to have been widened by inflation.
All eyes will now be on the Secretary of State’s speech at the Oxford Agriculture Conference on January 8th. Mr Hurd said ministers needed to set out a clear long-term commitment to all three schemes, backed by further investment in training, advice and co-operation, so farmers could plan with confidence.
“The dire uncertainty of the past few years must end,” she said, arguing that green agriculture can help businesses become more resilient while delivering public benefits such as cleaner rivers, reduced flood risk, improved water storage during droughts and nature recovery.
Environmentalists also stressed that the ELM system must continue to provide clear value for money for taxpayers and not be diluted into mere income support.
With important policy decisions expected in the coming months, farmers will be closely monitoring signals that provide certainty about financing, institutional design, and the long-term role of environmental enablement in profitable agricultural business.
