FARMERS have been advised to get their applications in early if they are considering applying

for the Countryside Stewardship Scheme in 2017.

Many who applied to join last year are still waiting to hear if they have been successful - prompting the early application advice from Joanne Barker of YoungsRPS.

This includes anyone whose current agri-environment scheme will come to an end before December 31, 2017.

She said: "Even though the start date for last year’s applicants was January 1st, 2017, a number of those who did apply have still not heard if they have been successful.

"Many of those farmers who haven’t heard don’t yet know if they should be carrying out the options selected in their applications. If no affirmative answer is received from Natural England this could cause difficulties when key cross compliance dates for certain activities come around."

She said farmers want to implement many of the ideals set out in these schemes such as measures to help with flood protection, tree and hedge planting and other conservation measures, but are holding back because of the perceived difficulty of entering into an agreement.

"In spite of confirmation from Government that funds will be available to finance the scheme in 2017, the new scheme is viewed by many farmers as too complicated on many levels, including the application procedure," said Miss Barker.

"Many farmers feel that there is too much paperwork involved and the payments are inadequate for the amount of work and costs involved. This is a missed opportunity by Natural England which needs rectifying if farmers are not to lose all faith in the scheme.

“Applicants considering both Higher Tier and Mid Tier scheme applications to commence in 2018 have until April 1st to submit initial forms. We would highly recommend getting this done as soon as possible in order to give yourself the best possible chance of getting the application processed promptly by Natural England."