land & farming — research notes, quick reference
A one-page signpost pulling together the schemes, funds and techniques covered across the meadow, BNG, and IHT/alternatives pages — organised by where you're actually starting from, not by scheme name.
01 — Starting Point
Livestock ground, meadow, hill or upland grazing — where the land is staying under grass and animals, and the question is how to farm it more resiliently rather than converting it to something else.
Letting pasture mature before a high-density graze — no scheme needed, just a change in grazing management. Builds roots, soil carbon and a trample mat; trade-off is lower forage quality while it's standing.
meadow page →Graze a third, trample a third, leave a third, with long rest periods (21–30+ days). The general grazing-management foundation everything else here builds on.
meadow page →Government's own lighter-touch option — 3-year commitment, grassland and habitat actions, £100k/year cap. The natural first step before anything longer-term.
iht/alternatives page →Best fit for genuinely low-yielding grazing (hill, wet, or "unproductive corner" ground) — a 25-acre-plus block, 30-year guaranteed income, conservation grazing usually continues alongside it.
bng page →If the land sits in a protected catchment (Derwent & Bassenthwaite is the local one), cutting stocking density or stopping fertiliser on a specific parcel can generate a saleable phosphorus credit.
iht/alternatives page →The full destocking-and-let-go route — no developer money or 30-year contract, self-directed and diversified (meat, tourism, produce) rather than a single payment stream.
iht/alternatives page →02 — Starting Point
Cropping ground — where the shift is toward cover cropping, reduced tillage, herbal leys, or organic fertilisation, while the land generally stays in production.
The best-matched carbon route for arable ground — pays for practice changes (cover crops, min-till, organic fertilisation) via Soil Capital Units, 1 SCU = 1 tonne CO2e, 5-year commitment, floor price of £23/unit.
iht/alternatives page →Arable-specific actions sit alongside grassland ones in the same scheme — cover cropping and min-till are often already rewarded here before Soil Capital even enters the picture.
iht/alternatives page →If part of the holding is converting land use entirely — new woodland, or restoring drained peat — this is the relevant carbon-market route, distinct from Soil Capital's ongoing-practice model.
iht/alternatives page →McCain Foods offers transition support (financing, guarantees, incentives) to about half its arable grower base; Routes to Regen and similar bank/insurer schemes also apply here.
iht/alternatives page →03 — Starting Point
A mixed holding, or one already partway into regenerative practice — grazing changes underway, some cover cropping, maybe an existing Countryside Stewardship agreement. The question shifts from "which scheme first" to "what else can layer on top without conflicting."
Established practices are exactly what insurers now reward — Nestlé and Generali Italia's pilot both link lower premiums or higher indemnity limits to demonstrated regenerative management, not intent to start.
iht/alternatives page →BNG on the lowest-yielding block, Soil Capital on the arable rotation, Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier on species-rich grassland — a mixed farm is well placed to run several schemes side by side rather than picking one for the whole holding.
bng page →Worth a look once regen practice is proven and the question becomes structural — a democratic, community-owned alternative to a private broker or family-only ownership model.
iht/alternatives page →Supplying a big buyer already (McDonald's, McCain, Waitrose) makes the Routes to Regen menu — preferential lending, peer learning, incentives — worth approaching directly rather than through a broker.
iht/alternatives page →04 — Reference
Every scheme covered across the three detail pages, side by side. Not exhaustive on figures — see each scheme's own section for the full detail and caveats.
| Scheme | Best fit | Commitment | Income shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deferred / mob grazing | Pasture, any size | None — a technique | Indirect (soil, resilience) |
| SFI26 / Countryside Stewardship | Pasture & arable, 3ha+ | 3 years | Annual payment, £100k/yr cap |
| BNG / Environment Bank | Low-yield land, 25 acres+ | 30 years | £5k–15k/yr guaranteed, EB route |
| Nutrient Neutrality Credits | Land in a protected catchment | Long-term legal agreement | Per-kg phosphorus credit sale |
| Rewilding (Knepp model) | Whole-holding destocking | Self-directed, no fixed term | Diversified (meat, tourism) |
| Soil Capital | Arable rotations | 5 years | £23+/tonne CO2e, 70% to farmer |
| Woodland / Peatland Carbon Code | Land-use change to trees/peat | Long-term (decades) | Carbon unit sale, upfront or ongoing |
| Community Land Trusts | Structural/ownership change | Long-term lease | N/A — governance model, not income |
| Bank/insurer/food-company schemes | Any, especially once practices proven | Varies — often no fixed term | Lending terms, premiums, incentives |
05 — Sources
The full research and reasoning behind everything summarised above lives on three companion pages, plus the original reporting this last update was drawn from.