What is Environmental Stewardship?

Environmental Stewardship is a new agri-environment scheme which provides funding to farmers and other land managers in England who deliver effective environmental management on their land.

Its primary objectives are to:

Conserve wildlife (biodiversity)
Maintain and enhance landscape quality and character
Protect the historic environment and natural resources
Promote public access and understanding of the countryside
Natural resource protection

Environmental stewardship has three elements:

Entry Level Stewardship (ELS)

Open to all farmers and landowners.
Simple and effective land management.
Organic Entry Level Stewardship (OELS)

Organic strand of ELS.
Open to all farmers not receiving Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) aid.
Higher Level Stewardship (HLS)

Targeted environmental management.
Capital work plans.