What Is 'Payment by Results' Environmental Funding?

At the start of the month, the Environment Secretary Michael Gove announced that the ‘Payment by Results’ scheme will be the very first agri-environmental initiative to be completed funded by the UK government. Due to come to an end after its pilot had finished, an injection of £540,000 by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) means that it will continue for another two years.

The move is the first sign that the government is keen to balance environmental priorities with agricultural aims after the UK has left the EU, and the announcement has been greeted warmly by prominent members of the farming community. PbR has proven to be popular in its pilot year chiefly due to the fact that it allows farmers to decide how to organise their land and rewards them for doing it in such a way that benefits the land as well as themselves.

Two areas set to benefit

The ‘Payment by Results’ scheme is being implemented in two regions of England: Norfolk and Suffolk in the east and Wensleydale in the north. Farmers can receive additional payments from the government depending on the environmental outcomes they are able to achieve through farming reforms. For example, monitoring emissions from agriculture and dairy farming is a hot topic right now due to the detrimental impact that methane has on the environment, so farmers pursuing that endeavour could be rewarded.

Similarly, the current bee crisis which has befallen Europe means that numbers of bees across the continent are desperately low. In Norfolk and Suffolk, there are incentives available for farmers who stimulate bee growth by planting plots of nectar plants. Meanwhile, Wensleydale farmers can be rewarded if they encourage the growth of meadow areas, which offer an inviting habitat for a diverse array of species.

What they say

Michael Gove was effusive in his praise for the PbR scheme, claiming that the latest announcement was surely a sign of greater things to come. “Under the CAP, agri-environment schemes have been overly bureaucratic and inflexible,” he said in a statement. “This has impeded innovation for farmers who are passionate about the environment and want to see real change. The Payment by Results pilot marks a shift in how we think about rewarding farmers for their work. This approach signals how we see the future of farm payments, where farmers deliver public goods for the environment which we all enjoy.”

Elsewhere, the chairman of the Yorkshire Dales Authority also welcomed the news. “I am delighted that the Government has funded an extension and expansion of the Wensleydale payment by results pilot scheme,” he explained. “The pilot scheme has been a hit with farmers because it has been designed and delivered locally - and because it puts the farmer back in control of how the land is managed, rather than having to follow very detailed and rigid prescriptions.”