Demand for Farming with Nature doubles

The second year of Farming with Nature has seen a marked increase in the number of applications to the agri-environment scheme.

DAERA has confirmed that over 1,700 applications were received before last Friday’s deadline, up from 876 submissions in the first year of the scheme.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the department said this year’s Farming with Nature applications have a combined total value of £12.37m.

Back in June, DAERA officials told MLAs that year two of the scheme had a budget of £9.3m, coming from £7m for NI farmers to deliver measures and £2.3m for administration.

On that basis, the latest phase of the scheme appears to be oversubscribed, although there is a possibility that agreements could still be offered to all eligible applicants.

If allowance is made for a typical dropout rate, which was 35% in the first year of Farming with Nature, it could bring scheme demand close to the available budget.

There is also the possibility that some additional funding could be found within DAERA, given that the scheme is a priority for Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir.

On Tuesday, Minister Muir said he was “delighted” with the application numbers, which showed that NI farmers want “to take practical action to support nature”.

DAERA has said that this year’s applications include 535km of new hedges, 207km of riparian buffers, 69ha of tree planting, 758ha of herbal leys and 5,366ha of actions on arable land.

However, no flexibility seems to have been offered in this tranche to the arable farmers who had ineligible land due to mapping issues in the scheme application process.

DAERA said “environmental data” was needed within the application system so that “risks of unintended impacts on sensitive habitats and species are minimised”.

At the same time, the department acknowledged that scheme maps should be reviewed for future tranches, which is likely to bring more eligible land into Farming with Nature.

“The underlying environmental data and the eligibility criteria will be kept under review and refined where necessary to maximise opportunities for farmers to undertake appropriate and beneficial environmental actions on their land,” DAERA said.

There are plans for a significant increase to the number of measures available under Farming with Nature, Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir has confirmed.

“By 2028, 35 environmental actions are expected to be available,” Minister Muir said in response to a recent written Assembly question.

It compares to six actions which were available in the first year of the scheme in 2025 and the 14 measures listed in the current tranche.

Responding to SDLP MLA Cara Hunter, Minister Muir said increased uptake of the scheme among farmers would be “a key means of improving environmental outcomes”.

“The department’s objective is to significantly increase participation through the expansion of the Farming with Nature package,” the Alliance MLA said.

The initial phases of the new agri-environment scheme have been mainly targeted at land outside of environmentally designated sites.

Minister Muir said the plan is to roll out new elements of Farming with Nature to cover designated land, as well as groups of farmers working together to manage a local habitat.

“Additional Farming with Nature schemes that are under development will support farms on designated sites, priority landscapes and collaborative environmental actions,” he said.