UPLAND farmers may struggle to get into a new agri-environment scheme – and those who succeed are likely to suffer a drop in income.

David Morley, H&H environment adviser, delivered the news to about 100 farmers attending the official launch of Harrison & Hetherington's new offices at Middleton-in-Teesdale mart.

He was speaking about the new two tier competitive Countryside Stewardship scheme and how it will affect farmers in the uplands.

It begins on January 1 and replaces Higher Level Stewardship, the England Woodland Grant Scheme and Catchment Sensitive Farming grants.

There are two tiers – Higher and Middle — and it was the middle tier that attracted the most criticism from Mr Morley.

He said it was quite different to Entry Level Stewardship in that it is competitive and does not pay a flat rate based on the points achieved.

Mr Morley said: "Natural England has set priorities for each local area, but there is no local adviser support and it is competitive.

"You only get paid for the options you do – parcel by parcel – rather than on a farm scale so it could mean a lot less income, it is a big change from ELS."

He said there was a lack of options for upland farmers and the scheme appeared biased towards arable and lowland grassland farmers.

He found it "hugely disappointing" that, unlike ELS, upland cattle grazing, hay making, wall maintenance and basic moorland care were not included.

The "no fertiliser" management payment rate was poor at only £16/ha and the lack of a wildlife package for Severely Disadvantaged Area farms would put them at a huge disadvantage because of the competitive nature of the scheme.

Mr Morley also said there were "onerous" application requirements. "It is quite a big step backwards from what we had with Entry Level Stewardship," he said.

The one good thing was that in February there will be a scheme for capital works offering £5,000 for hedgerow boundaries and walls.

The Higher Tier part of CSS is similar to the current Higher Level Stewardship Scheme focusing on Sites of Special Scientific Interest, biodiversity and water framework directive obligations.

On Higher Tier, Mr Morley said, it is expected that virtually all of those already in Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) will be offered the chance to apply to join and once in the pipeline they will have one to one help from a local adviser.

It has similar options to HLS and most payments are similar. The CSS schemes start on January 1 each year and have a narrow application window from July to September.

An early transfer option is being considered for farmers whose HLS agreement does not end until sometime next year, however Mr Morley said that in some cases it may be financially better for the farmer to see out the HLS scheme. He advised anyone in that position to take professional advice.