On 21st July 2023, an interim agri-environment scheme was announced to maintain and increase the area of habitat land under management across Wales.
The new scheme, Habitat Wales, will provide an alternative offer of support to all eligible farmers, including Glastir Advanced, Commons and Organic farmers when their contracts end on 31st December 2023.
FUW members can make appointments with their local County Office to process and submit an expression of interest.
The aims of the Habitat Wales scheme are to:
- Protect habitat land previously under management in 2023 up to the full introduction of the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) in 2025.
- Introduce additional habitat land, not currently under paid management, into sustainable land management prior to the start of SFS.
- Maintain environmental support for common land.
The scheme will be open to all eligible farmers and Grazing Associations.
There will be three eligible land classifications:
- Land currently under a habitat option within a Glastir Advanced contract (including Glastir Commons).
- Habitat land (excluding designated sites), not currently under management in 2023, as identified by published maps on DataMapWales.
- Land managed as habitat (this land has potential to become habitat land following management).
Management payments for designated sites within existing Glastir contracts will be maintained, however, designated sites not currently under a Glastir contract will not be eligible for payment under the Habitat Wales scheme.
Application process:
The application window for the Habitat Wales scheme opened on 29th September and will close on 10th November with 12 month contracts offered by the end of December, commencing 1st January 2024.
Applications will be submitted via your RPW Online account and will be farmer led, i.e. there will be no contract managers visiting farms.
Habitat areas will be pre-populated onto the on-line application form.
The contract will be an “all habitat” agreement; applicants will not be able to select which habitat areas to include in the contract.
Applicants can include additional land to be managed as habitat in the application.
There will be a competitive scoring and selection process; the scheme will target areas that can achieve the greatest environmental benefits.
Management requirements:
Land submitted within an EoI will be placed within 10 broad habitat classifications with minimum management requirements set for each habitat classification.
The broad habitat classifications are:
- Arable Plants
- Coastal and lowland Heath
- Coastal Vegetated Shingle and Sand Dune
- Enclosed Wetland Habitats
- Existing trees, scrub and woodland
- Saltmarsh
- Grazing management of open Country
- Permanent Dry Grassland with No inputs
- Inland Rocks and Scree
- Manage Land as Habitat
Payment Rates
For Individual Farms:-
Habitat Land £69/Ha
Woodland Habitat £62/Ha
For Common Land:-
Common Land Management Payment £25/Ha
Additional payment - Stock Management £15/Ha
Additional Payment - Mixed Grazing £12/Ha
Additional Payment - Reduce Stocking £259/LU