Countryside Stewardship Mirror Agreements – Opportunity Reflection

Countryside Stewardship Mirror Agreements: Key Considerations for 2024 and Beyond

Many farmers and landowners with Countryside Stewardship (CS) schemes ending this year have already heard from the RPA about renewing through new “mirror agreements.” These agreements aim to help landowners and farmers transition into the new ELMS scheme, but several important considerations should shape your decision before entering another five-year commitment.

What Has Changed with Countryside Stewardship Renewals?

In recent years, one-year extensions have supported existing ELS/HLS agreement holders, but CS mirror agreements represent the first attempt to roll forward full CS contracts.

Mirror Agreement Requirements and Caveats

To move into a mirror agreement, you must meet several conditions. Review them carefully before proceeding:

• Your agreement must still be active and not expired or terminated before you accept the mirror agreement.

• You must remove any incomplete capital works from the mirror agreement.

• You must complete all paperwork from the previous agreement, with no outstanding land transfers.

• You cannot use a Mid Tier / Higher Tier mirror agreement to change the options in your current agreement.

• You must resolve all breaches or non-compliance issues from the previous agreement.

• Your holding cannot have unmanaged SSSIs or Scheduled Monuments; you must manage these under the new mirror agreement.

• Mirror agreements do not apply to woodland options within mixed Higher Tier agreements.

• For Higher Tier only, you cannot receive a mirror agreement if no Higher Tier options remain after removing any options that are no longer available (e.g., organic conversion options).

Higher Tier Agreements: What to Expect

Higher Tier agreement holders have seen very few mirror agreements. Natural England advisers will assess every Higher Tier agreement individually. They will judge whether the agreement still meets the rules and delivers the environmental outcomes it was designed for. As a result, many Higher Tier holders may see “creation” options converted into “maintenance” options in any new agreement.

Benefits of Mirror Agreements

Mirror agreements offer several practical advantages:

• A simpler route forward.

• Easy management of an agreement you already understand after five years.

• No need to relocate margins, plots, or options.

• A completely new agreement with no risk of backdated claims or penalties from previous years.

• A no-penalty break clause once ELMS begins.

Key Considerations Before Signing

After five years in CS, many businesses see real value in starting again with a clean slate. With a better understanding of how their initial agreement worked, they could build a new scheme tailored more effectively to their wider farm. Many early CS participants simply adapted old ELS agreements with basic options that might not deliver the best return now.

Mirror agreements also prevent you from adding new capital works. Depending on your location, you may qualify for a range of capital items in High Priority Areas—options that could significantly increase the value of a brand-new agreement.

DEFRA has repeatedly confirmed that any business entering a new CS agreement can transition into ELMS without penalties or repayment if remaining in CS would disadvantage them.

With Basic Payment slowly reducing, many businesses now look toward more extensive Mid or Higher Tier schemes to help bridge the funding gap over the next few years.

Review Before You Renew

Before accepting a mirror agreement, carefully review your existing scheme. Consider whether making changes could improve your original offer. We have all learned a great deal from early CS applications, and in most cases, a new agreement can deliver greater value over the next five years than simply rolling forward the old one.

For a free initial meeting on the options available to your business going forward, please contact your nearest Ceres Rural office or view our services here.