The 2023 Annual Report for Natural England’s Agri-environment Evidence Programme summarises the findings of seven peer-reviewed research projects completed during 2022 and 2023.
The studies summarised evaluate aspects of Agri-Environment Schemes (AES) in England. AES encourage farmers to protect and enhance the environment on their land by paying them for the provision of environmental services, including the protection of historic features and landscape character. Four studies covered in this report focused on the effectiveness of management options, measuring their uptake and success at delivering desired outcomes.
Specifically, the projects evaluated the impact of AES for:
- mobile species at a landscape scale,
- maintenance of traditional farm buildings
- management of geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and
- supporting educational access to nature.
Two other projects assessed the delivery and design of schemes. This included the now closed permissive access option and a fourth evaluation of the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund. The final study covered in this report explored trade-offs of different land-use scenarios in England.
Overall, the studies presented in the annual report highlight how AES can bring about benefits beyond the field scale to a landscape scale. It also highlights the social benefits certain AES options provide by enhancing public engagement with the natural environment.
Suggested areas for improvement are mentioned across studies. These mainly centred around:
- making options more attractive to land managers
- providing better advice, guidance and support to increase the effectiveness of options, and
- suggested improvements to monitoring and reporting systems.