Four new Countryside Stewardship offers are to introduced for farmers and land managers to boost biodiversity and help protect and enhance farmland and the countryside.

The government says that it has made significant improvements to the scheme to make it simpler and easier for farmers and land managers to apply.

The four new offers – Online Arable Offer, Lowland Grazing Offer, Upland Offer and Mixed Farming Offer – will provide tailored options covering the full range of different farm types, so farmers and land managers can deliver environmental benefits no matter where they are or what they farm.

The popular Hedgerows and Boundaries Grant will also receive additional funding from 2018, with farmers and land managers able to apply for a maximum grant of £10,000, up from £5,000 in previous application rounds.

Paperwork for the new offers is quicker and easier to get through, due to streamlined evidence checks and shorter application forms designed to help save farmers valuable time. The scheme is also non-competitive, meaning that all farmers who meet the eligibility requirements can get an agreement to deliver as few as three options, or as many as 7 up to 14, depending on the offer applied for.

The Online Arable Offer delivers the minimum 3% of farmed land under option management which is needed for farmland birds and wild pollinators. Delivering the offer provides the year round benefits essential to birds and pollinating insects, and can help protect water quality.

The Lowland Grazing Offer is intended to provide year round food, shelter and nesting habitat for birds, and nectar sources and habitat for pollinating insects.

The Upland Offer is focussed on helping to provide the right management for flower–rich meadows and nesting and foraging habitat for upland birds, including breeding waders. The option also will help protect water quality.

The Mixed Farming Offer is designed to provide year round food, shelter and nesting habitat for birds, and nectar sources and habitat for pollinating insects and some options can help protect water quality and aquatic habitats.

The changes have been made to help more farmers get back into agri-environment schemes, with options such as the popular nectar flower mix which many farmers delivered under the ELS schemes available to apply for in the new CS offers. The new Upland Offer also provides an opportunity for farmers who were on HLS agreements to get into Mid Tier agreements.

The new offers, available from January, will complement the existing Higher Tier as well as the Mid Tier offer which has been enhanced and will continue to be available, supporting agreements delivering organics, historic, water quality, wet grassland and traditional orchards.

Scheme handbooks with more detail on how to apply and the best options for different farms will be published in the new year to coincide with the application window opening.