Scheme to reward ‘green’ farmers in England (BBC)
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Scheme to reward ‘green’ farmers
Farmers will earn money for looking after hedgerows to provide habitat for birds
Farmers will be rewarded for protecting the environment under a new initiative launched by the government on Thursday.Under the Environmental Stewardship Scheme, every farmer in England will be able to earn payments for making their land more hospitable to wildlife.
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says it will mark a “watershed” in English farming.
“It is the biggest change to farming for a generation,” a government minister said on Thursday.
The only similar program in the U.S. that I could think of is the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program. But I believe individual states have their own programs as well. The difference however is that the English system rewards farmers directly for be stewards of the environment. The U.S. program is intended to create incentives to keep land in production.