What is Farming with Nature Transition Scheme (FwNT)
The Farming with Nature Package is the replacement for the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) and aims to support Northern Ireland farmers and land managers across all land types to make substantial contributions to environmental improvements and sustainability. The Package hopes to reverse the trends in nature decline through retaining, maintaining, restoring and creating habitats that are important for species diversity and improved connectivity between habitat areas.
If your business has a live EFS agreement (of any type) at the point of application, then your business is not eligible for Farming with Nature Transition.
FwN will be delivered using a phased approach starting with a Farming with Nature Transition Scheme (FwNT) that can incentivise a range of actions with proven valuable environmental impact.
FwNT will provide financial support to farmers to cover the costs of actions, and the capital items needed to implement them, that deliver specific environmental benefits through the delivery of additional habitats, protection of watercourses and provision of green infrastructure for nature corridors.
Five actions will be available through FwNT planting new hedgerows, creation of riparian buffer strips, farmland tree planting, retention of winter stubble and multi-species winter cover crop. Supporting items will be available for three of the actions. Details of the actions can be found at How Do I Carry Out the FwNT Scheme Actions?
FwNT will open for applications on the 23 June 2025, with the application window closing on 4 August 2025 at 5pm. If the scheme is oversubscribed we will use environmental criteria to prioritise applications.
All selected actions and associated supporting items should be carried out in line with the provided specifications, with work being completed by 31 March 2026, with the exception of retention of winter stubble, which should be retained to the 15 February, and multi-species winter cover crop which should be retained to the 15 of February and then destroyed in line with normal husbandry practice. A payment claim window will be open from 2 March to 31 March 2026, and all work, bar the above mentioned exceptions, must be completed prior to a claim being submitted. Payments will commence in Summer 2026.
Policy Context
The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union has provided Northern Ireland with a unique opportunity to redefine its agricultural policy for the first time in almost 50 years, with the aim of developing a framework that is better suited to local needs and one that will underpin long term sustainability within the agri-food industry.
The FwN Package forms part of the programme of change being progressed through the DAERA Sustainable Agriculture Programme. It aims to contribute to the delivery of many of DAERA’s strategic environmental outcomes by supporting farmers and land managers to make substantial contributions to environmental improvements and sustainability.
Following public consultation on proposals for future agricultural policy, the Future Agricultural Policy Decisions for Northern Ireland were published in March 2022. A copy of these decisions are at Future Agricultural Policy Decisions for Northern Ireland.