FARMERS can take advantage of an extended deadline for Countryside Stewardship applications.

Sarah Wedge, of Davis Meade Property Consultants in Oswestry, told how Natural England had extended the deadline for completed mid-tier applications to August 31.

She said: "“More than 10,000 farmers and managers requested an application pack ahead of the May 31 deadline, and the extra time should enable more farms to enter into Countryside Stewardship agreements in 2019.

“Countryside Stewardship (CS) can bring benefits to soil and water quality and create habitats for wildlife on farmland and the government thinks that entering into a CS agreement will be a way for farmers to start changing the way they manage their land ahead of new post-Brexit agricultural policy outside the Common Agricultural Policy.”

For the 2018 application window, there are also four new simplified “wildlife offers” for upland, lowland, mixed farm and arable.

As with the mid-tier scheme, the application pack must have been requested before May 31, and the deadline to return the completed application packs have been extended to August 31.

Applicants who wanted to apply for a wildlife offer, but received the incorrect pack, should contact Natural England about their application.

For more information or help with an application for either scheme contact Sarah Wedge on 01691 659658, or email sarahwedge@dmpcuk.com