Rural services

Environmental Schemes

Three environmental schemes area administered by Natural England, namely :
Entry Level Environmental Stewardship
Organic Entry Level Environmental Stewardship
Higher Level Environmental Stewardship

The schemes are aimed at "encouraging large numbers of farmers and land managers across England to deliver simple yet effective environmental management..."

Entry Level

This is the basic scheme, and full details are available from Natural England

Links from DEFRA:

Promotional Brochure

New Rural Development Programme 2007 and Cross Compliance

Organic Entry Level

Organic certification

For the majority of enterprises there is a two year conversion period before the land can be classified as fully organic.
During this time a supplementary payment of £175 per hectare is payable, which reflects the lower output of organic enterprises.

A list of approved organic certifiers is available from DEFRA
approved UK certification bodies

Higher Level

Entry or Organic Entry Level Stewardship is generally a pre-requisite of Higher Level Stewardship which aims "to deliver significant environmental benefits in high priority situations and areas".


Advice is available for all aspects of the Environmental Schemes.

Accuracy of maps can vary, and therefore make a difference in grant payment. To ensure correct areas, a mapping service is provided using the latest software and hardware which is available either as part of SPS /ELS advice or as a separate service.

env@keylocks.com