IENVIRONMENT STEWARDSHIP ORGANIC FRUIT

Wm' der the new, EU-approved, Rural Development Programme  for England (2007-2013), the old Organic Farming Scheme (OFS), Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) and the Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme have now been replaced by a new agrientrkurffnent  scheme: 'Environment Stewardship'. This new stewardship inhales’ an Entry Level Stewardship (ELS), an Organic Entry Levelwarships  (OELS) and a Higher Level Stewardship (HLS). Of most iimievest to organic producers, the Organic Entry Level Stewardship is gamed to organic and organic /conventional mixed farming systems and &Mews the same format as the old Organic Farming Scheme. It is available assisting organic farmers and land owners, as well as producers entering

Land into conversion, as a five-year agreement, with payments sent out every six months. The OELS is a non-competitive scheme, which means that provided all the requirements (based on a points system) for stewardship have been met, a basic payment rate of £60 per hectare is available for all organic land entered into the scheme. Aid for converting conventionally farmed improved land and established top fruit orchards (planted with pears, plums, cherries and apples, excluding cider apples) is also available as a top-up to OELS payments. This is currently set at £175 per hectare per year for two years for improved land and £600 per hectare per year for three years for established top fruit orchards.

To apply for Organic Entry Level Stewardship, producers must first register their land with an organic certification body. Producers must also demonstrate that they can achieve a certain number of points related to the area of their farm by carrying out specified environmental management options (for example, provision of beetle banks, buffer strips, pollen and nectar mixtures, hedgerow management and so on). These are listed in the OELS handbook (available from Natural England). To qualify for the conversion payments, producers must apply to the OELS within twelve months from the date of registration with an organic certification body. Farmers with both organic and conventional land can apply for OELS on their OELS-eligible land and ELS on the remainder at the applicable ELS payment rates as part of one, whole-farm OELS agreement. If farms are already in the ELS, it will be necessary to cancel the existing ELS agreement, then apply for the OELS.