Hill farmers, who are among England’s poorest, face an “outsized” hit to livelihoods from delays to new farming schemes, a think tank has warned.
Efforts to tackle climate change, restore nature and curb flood risk in lower-lying areas are also threatened by a lack of new nature-friendly farming payments to upland areas, the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said.
Analysis by the ECIU has shown that hill farmers are only receiving 8% or £39 million of the Government’s new farming support scheme, the sustainable farming incentive (SFI), despite accounting for 15% of England’s area.
Delays to new Government schemes could have an outsized negative impact on their livelihoods
And there have been repeated delays to overhauling and expanding another part of the new farming payments programme, the Countryside Stewardship “higher tier” scheme for creating woodlands and other habitat, which will be key to supporting upland farms, the ECIU said.
One upland farmer warned he did not know what “hill farmers will do” if they could not get on to the more ambitious, higher-paying schemes as old EU subsidies are phased out – and that nature and climate would also suffer.
Since Brexit, agricultural subsidies which mainly paid landowners for the amount of land farmed are being changed to environmental land management scheme (Elms) payments for “public goods” such as creating habitat, healthy soils and clean water.
Elms consists of three tiers – the SFI, the Countryside Stewardship higher tier scheme, and a large-scale landscape recovery scheme involving groups of landowners.
The Government has prioritised the development and delivery of the SFI, as it is most relevant to the majority of farmers, but the options landowners can implement in return for payments under the scheme are less well suited to hill farmers – who have among the lowest incomes – the think tank warned.
And the Countryside Stewardship’s higher tier scheme was repeatedly delayed under previous governments, after problems since its initial launch in 2015, and is not due to be available until next summer.
I don’t know what hill farmers will do if we can’t get into these more ambitious, higher-paying, higher-tier schemes we’ve long been promised
There are also fears not enough farmers will be able to get into it when it does launch.
The ECIU said a big increase in spending and uptake of the higher tier scheme is needed to meet targets to reverse declines in nature and curb emissions by increasing woodland cover and restoring peatland to store carbon.
In 2024, the uplands received 42%, some £50 million, of the remaining payments under the Countryside Stewardship’s predecessor scheme, showing how important that element of the programme will be to hill farmers.
Tom Lancaster, land, food and farming analyst at the ECIU, 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, designed to support farmers to create and restore habitats like woodlands, which would help to reduce flood risk downstream, has been repeatedly delayed under previous governments.
“Any further delays will put hill farmers’ finances in jeopardy.”
Hill farmers - many of whom are National Trust tenants - are ideally placed to deliver big gains for nature alongside farming, and deserve to be rewarded properly for this work
Neil Heseltine, an upland farmer and member of the Nature Friendly Farming Network from Malham in North Yorkshire, said hill farmers were “ready, willing and able” to do more for nature and climate change on their land, but the support has not been there for them.
He added: “I don’t begrudge our lowland peers the funding they’re getting, I just want some of it to flow up the hill to allow us to do the same.
“If it doesn’t, climate and nature will suffer.
“And as the old subsidies are phased out, I don’t know what hill farmers will do if we can’t get into these more ambitious, higher-paying, higher-tier schemes we’ve long been promised.”
Mr Heseltine said the new team at the Environment Department (Defra) needed to ensure the promised schemes were available as soon as possible.
Commenting on the analysis, Harry Bowell, director of land and nature at the National Trust, said: “Hill farmers – many of whom are National Trust tenants – are ideally placed to deliver big gains for nature alongside farming, and deserve to be rewarded properly for this work.
“We want to see an urgent roll out and proper resourcing of Countryside Stewardship higher tier schemes, to support farmers in the uplands to carry out this vital role.”
A Defra spokesperson 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 £5 billion to the farming budget over two years – the largest budget for sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history.”
