What
The UK Government has introduced the Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS), which pays farmers and land managers to deliver actions on their land which benefits the environment, climate, biodiversity and animal health & welfare. ELMS is divided into 3 schemes: 

1. Sustainable Farming Incentive, paying farmers to adopt and maintain sustainable farming practices that can protect and enhance the natural environment alongside food production, and also support farm productivity (including by improving animal health and welfare, optimising the use of inputs and making better use of natural resources) 

2. Countryside Stewardship (CS) will pay for more targeted actions relating to specific locations, features and habitats. There will be an extra incentive through 'CS Plus', for land managers to join up across local areas to deliver bigger and better results. 

3. Landscape Recovery pays for bespoke, longer-term, larger scale projects to enhance the natural environment, supports landscape and ecosystem recovery through projects such as restoring wilder landscapes, peatland and salt marsh restoration, and large-scale tree planting. The implementation phases of projects will be supports by a mixture of government and private funding.

Goal
Many of the actions will help farmers reduce their costs and improve their efficiency, as well as help improve the natural environment and reduce carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions. Actions can enable farmers to generate an income from unproductive corners and edges of fields, using hedgerows to improve productivity (for example as windbreaks or shelterbelts), and improving soil health. Farmers and other land managers working with agricultural/environmental ministries and NGOs should be able to apply for and participate in the scheme.

Recent activities
One-off grants will also be provided to support farm productivity, innovation, research and development in a way that also helps us to achieve these goals. These reforms are essential to grow and maintain a resilient, productive agriculture sector over the long term and at the same time achieve ambitious targets for the environment and climate, playing our role in tackling these huge, global challenges. The UK government will continue to roll out the additional scope and service improvements to the payment schemes, improve farm regulation, and support farm productivity, innovation, research and development though a number of ways. After that, further ways will be introduced to support those who join up across local areas, take actions in the right places and deliver outstanding results. 

Benefits
ELMS has let to reform of agricultural policy and spending that was not previously working for environmental benefits. Area-based subsidies are being phased out for land ownership and tenure, and in their place the UK is expanding schemes to pay farmers and land managers to provide environmental goods and services, alongside food production.

Next steps & Lessons learned
Each one of the three are being made to work for a range of stakeholders including farmers, tenants and other landholders. Feedback from test, trials and pilots of each scheme aid the reforming of regulations, scheme design and allow for schemes to remain flexible and accessible.

The agricultural transition will be rolling out these new schemes over a 7-year transition period - 2021-28, in which we are gradually phasing out basic payments (area-based subsidies).

Relevant links and resources
ELMs Overview