FARMERS not yet taking part in Defra’s environmental stewardship schemes – which already have 35,000 participants – are being offered new grants to protect the countryside, it was announced yesterday.

By adding these new options we hope that even more farmers will be able to contribute to the environmental benefits they are designed to deliver

Helen Phillips - Natural England

They include payments for leaving 12-metre wide strips uncultivated alongside streams and rivers and fencing along those watercourses, which is often swept away by the massive floods which have become common in recent years.

The same floods are also responsible for a major problem: bank erosion. Hundreds of thousands of acres of fram land has literally swept away and this causes additional environmental problems.

The build up of silt downstream can add to flooding problems and sometimes swamped t traditional fish spawning grounds for trout, sea trout and salmon, which need clean gravel beds in which to lay their eggs. This is a major problem in some fast-flowing Yorkshire Dales rivers.

There are also new grants to help maize farmers to adopt more environmentally friendly growing methods. Natural England, which announced the new grants, hopes that this will increase the amount of land under stewardship agreements.

Says Helen Phillips, chief executive of Natural England: “Stewardship schemes already cover 65% of farmed land in England. By adding these new options we hope that even more farmers will be able to contribute to the environmental benefits they are designed to deliver”.

• For more details, see www.naturalengland.org.uk/es