ELMs 2025: What’s New for Farmers?

ELMs 2025
2024 was a milestone year for Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs), and 2025 is shaping up to be another, with Defra doubling down on its mission to blend productive farming with environmental sustainability.

Whether you’re a seasoned participant or just dipping your toes into the schemes, here’s your quick round-up of what’s brewing in the ELMs landscape.

ELMs Simplified: Unified and Integrated

Substantial progress has been made to streamline processes for farmers by integrating schemes like the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) into a single unified online platform. Full implementation is expected in 2025. With fewer application hurdles, farmers can choose actions from either scheme without worrying about which label applies.

SFI, CS and Capital Grants Expand

SFI continues to form the backbone of ELMs, with 102 actions to choose from and intentions to expand these into 2025. Flexibility, however, is the key—farmers can “pick and mix” actions that work for their systems, allowing them to tailor their agreements accordingly. The year-round rolling application window for capital grants also remains a boon, with Defra working to increase the number of higher-tier CS agreements, and the first agreements starting early this year.

Landscape Recovery Takes Root

Landscape Recovery is growing for those ready to think big, offering funding for ambitious projects like rewilding or river restoration. This scheme isn’t for everyone but can be transformative for farms, estates and clusters looking to make a landscape-level environmental impact.

What’s Next?

2025 is about fine-tuning rather than big changes. Defra’s priority is delivering payments efficiently and ensuring accessibility, so no farm gets left behind. As ELMs evolve, the goal remains the same: helping farmers play a leading role in tackling climate change, protecting biodiversity, and managing natural resources. For more details on ELMs, please visit the government website.

To learn more about the different agri-environment schemes on offer, visit our funding page here.

author

Growing up in multiple countries, I became deeply interested in the relationship between communities and the ecosystems they depend on. This curiosity led me to study Geography at Exeter, where I focused on land-use tensions and rural sustainability. I then spent a year working on hop farms and regenerative smallholdings in New Zealand which highlighted various social, economic and environmental disparities within land management. Now having explored these issues in greater depth through an MSc in Sustainable Development at Exeter, my focus lies on how we can foster greater collaboration to enhance food system sustainability, invest in nature recovery and ultimately build a more equitable and resilient future for the land management sector.
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