Building Blocks Commission

Defra's Environmental Land Management scheme will need to calculate payment rates for farmers, foresters and other land managers undertaking environmental activities. This requires new data and the development of evidence based-assumptions on income from agricultural activities and additional costs incurred by farmers, foresters and other land managers.

These will form what this specification refers to as the 'building blocks' of the payment rate calculation. A desk-based exercise is required to collate the necessary data, forecast the values, and provide clear documentation of sources and assumptions on how these values were arrived at.

To calculate payments rates for the 2024 environmental land management scheme, we want to build an in-house payments model, with complete transparency in payment calculations and the ability to refine them as the scheme develops. The building blocks data will ensure that payments rates are an accurate and up-to-date reflection of the income foregone and costs incurred by land managers for undertaking environmental activities.

To do this, we need to update the building blocks from the Countryside Stewardship payment rates from 2013, which are now out of date. We also need new evidence consistent with current market data and forecasted for an appropriate period.

We also want to improve and enhance our understanding of the data and underpinning assumptions sitting behind the building blocks, so that these can be used optimally in setting the final payment rates.